Senior or Chief Curator
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum seeks an enthusiastic and experienced curator to manage and care for the Museum’s more than 30,000 objects. The position also has interim oversight of the library and archives collections of this former island-wide 87-year old historical society. The curator oversees access to the collections and is responsible for the registration of all acquisitions, de-accessions, loans and purchases and will supervise the implementation of an institution-wide digital catalog system. The curator plays an important role in encouraging and participating in research, exhibition and publishing materials relating to Martha’s Vineyard history and culture. The position is responsible for updating collections policies, directing a Board collection committee, overseeing storage, climate control, necessary repair and conservation of collections materials, and assist with the development of a disaster plan. This position is full time and reports to the Executive Director, coordinates curatorial associates in exhibitions and oral history, and collaborates closely with colleagues in education, events and development.
The successful candidate should have 5-to-7 years of relevant experience in history museums and/or decorative arts collections management, a degree in museum studies or a relevant field (advanced degree preferred), grant writing, exhibition and special projects experience and be familiar with current collections database systems (such as PastPerfect). Experience in both small and large museums helpful.
Salary is $45,000-50,000, depending on experience. Relocation supplement possible.
Applications due by January 15, 2010. Please send cover letter, resume and list of three professional references to the attention of Jane Ford at jford@mvmuseum.org or via mail to Curator Search, Martha’s Vineyard Museum, POBox 1310, Edgartown, MA 02539. Writing samples encouraged. EOE.
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Full Job Description:
The Senior Curator is responsible for the care and management of the Museum’s object and library (on an interim basis) collections and oversees all access to and interpretation of these materials. He/she is responsible for all aspects of acquisitioning, registration, research and exhibition and supervises collections research, curatorial and exhibition staff. The Senior Curator is part of the Museum’s senior management team and works to develop and implement the organization’s long range and strategic plans.
Specific Duties:
- Monitoring and adjustment of environmental conditions in both storage and exhibit areas
- Maintenance and updates of collections records, files and database
- Acceptance of donations to the collections, correspondence with donors and collaboration with the Collections Committee to accept items into the collections and to identify items for possible purchase
- Development and implementation of all collections, loan and research policies and fees
- Providing researchers, scholars and other patrons with information about the collections as requested
- Monitoring the Museum’s campus-wide security system
- Overseeing the Museum’s collections and exhibit programs and supervising exhibition and oral history curators to plan and implement exhibitions both on and off the Museum’s campus
- Seeking funding opportunities and support writing grants for collections care and exhibition
- Recruiting, training and supervising seasonal interns and volunteers to assist with operational and curatorial duties and programming
- Developing and monitoring annual budgets for object collection maintenance and conservation, exhibitions and related programming
- Overseeing campus-wide collections (Cooke House, Tool Shed, Fresnel Lens, Tryworks, Carriage Shed) maintenance and housekeeping
- Collaborating with and providing assistance to all Museum departments for grants, programming, outreach and events when appropriate
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Volunteer Opportunities
The Martha's Vineyard Museum has a well developed summer intern program, which has been in place since 1993. Each intern has the opportunity to participate in all operational aspects of the Museum. This is an ideal environment for learning about such issues as non-profit administration, historic conservation, museum education, development, outreach, preservation, and public history. With the experience gained at the MVM, many of our interns have gone on to careers in the fields of library science, historic preservation, public history, and museum studies.
Click here to view the internship positions
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