Hi! I’m gathering information on conservation as a potential career, and I wondered if you could give me an idea of the sort of salaries conservators usually expect? (I’m not looking to get rich; if I were, I’d have gone into something boring)

Sure! The most recent compensation survey that the American Institute for Conservation has is from 2014. You can access the PDF here. It’s posted on this page of AIC surveys, which also includes links to surveys about continuing education for conservators, the use of social media by conservators, and others.

There’s a lot of factors that affect salaries, particularly the kind of institution you work in, as well as your geographic region and conservation specialization. So it’s hard to give a ballpark figure for an entry-level conservator’s salary. You definitely won’t get rich enough to be part of the 1%, but the job satisfaction is pretty high, at least in my experience. 🙂