« Back to all jobs Curator of Collections
- Employer: Los Altos History Museum, Los Altos, CA
- Salary: $58,000–$68,000/yr
Job Description:
The Curator of Collections, one of a small professional staff, will lead the Museum’s research efforts and our mission to “challenge established narratives” through the professional management of our collection and the responsible display of information. The Curator of Collections will have oversight of our collection and permanent exhibitions, including the new permanent exhibition in the main building and in the J. Gilbert Smith House. This position reports to the Executive Director and works closely with the Collections, Oral History, Smith House, and Permanent Exhibit committees, as well as with the Museum Educator and other staff. This is a full-time, permanent position for someone experienced in collection based research.
Specific Duties :
- Research. Becomes a subject expert in local Los Altos and surrounding area history by surveying and understanding the Museum’s collection, answering inquiries, and assisting with exhibition research.
- Public Interfaces. Ensures public awareness of Museum’s collection content. Delivers talks to private and public audiences on topics related to Los Altos history. Helps develop interfaces to provide content to visitors and the public, including online portals, mobile apps, and exhibition displays.
- Exhibits. Updates permanent exhibition content as necessary, with quarterly assessments. Serves as the primary staff contact for the vendors and contractors responsible for creating and supporting the new permanent exhibit. Troubleshoots problems and manages fixes as necessary.
- Collection Scope. – Enforces the Museum’s Collection Policy, and actively suggests areas for accessioning and deaccessioning collection material according to AAM professional standards.
- Collection Care. Oversees the physical collection storage, ensures inventory of collection is periodically conducted, expedites photographing the collection in a systematic and organized fashion. Supports ongoing efforts to scan archival and photographic material.
- Donation Processing. Supervises volunteers, students, and interns to catalogue incoming oral histories and collections to ensure donations are appropriately processed and donors are notified and thanked in a timely manner.
- Database Maintenance. Ensures volunteers and interns populate the Past Perfect database to track collection assets, including artifacts and archival material. Ensures appropriate standards of data entry are employed by all users. Develops procedures for streamlining the documentation of the collection.
- External Assets. Devises a mechanism for tracking information about external buildings, historic sites, and places that are of historic interest and maintains such information with the assistance of volunteers.
- Publication Work. As appropriate, seeks out and suggests publication outlets for information drawn from the collection. Provides content for such publications in collaboration with other stakeholders.
- Current Trends. Keeps abreast of current trends and industry best practices. Regularly conducts research and attends industry relevant workshops and trainings.
