Dr. Barbara Wolanin has been the Curator for the Architect of the Capitol since 1985.  She is responsible for the care of the works of art and historical records under the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol.  Her duties include overseeing the art conservation program, research, and exhibitions. Among the conservation projects she has managed have been the bronze Statue of Freedom atop the Capitol dome, the murals in the 1897 Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, and numerous murals by Constantino Brumidi, including The Apotheosis of Washington,  the frieze under the dome, and the Brumidi Corridors.   The book she prepared on Brumidi, published in 1998 for the U.S. Congress,  highlights the conservation of his murals.  She works closely with the United States Capitol Historical Society in managing the fellowship program and in planning symposia.

She earned a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and also has master's degrees from Harvard University and Oberlin College.  She is an expert on the American modernist painter Arthur B. Carles, the subject of the doctoral dissertation and two exhibition catalogues. She previously taught art history at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Trinity College in Washington, D.C.