The National Urban League seeks a Manager, Collections for The Urban Civil Rights Museum (UCRM). The Manager, Collections helps UCRM build a new collection. The museum plans to acquire artifacts, artworks, and primary source material, which will be displayed in permanent and temporary museum exhibitions onsite and, potentially, loaned to other cultural institutions. The Manager, Collections, is charged with properly building, conserving, and creating proper access to the collection to ensure careful and consistent collections care. S/he is responsible for the collection’s acquisition, care, storage, and management under the supervision of the Director of Exhibitions. The Manager Collections, catalogs, and processes all collection items; manages incoming and outgoing loans; helps with research requests and other tasks associated with the collection; creates collection and acquisition policies; processes acquisitions; obtains permissions and licenses; and manages the collection database. S/he is responsible for ensuring high collection care standards and making conservation recommendations. S/he will assist the staff and public, as needed, with tasks related to the museum’s collection.
The National Urban League will open the Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem, New York (UCRM) in 2025/2026. As New York’s first museum dedicated to civil rights – and one of the first in the nation to focus on the history of civil rights in the North. The Urban Civil Rights Museum will tell the story of the civil and human rights struggle in urban environments across America. It will empower people to continue to struggle to improve their lives and the lives of all Americans. It will be a place where you can see and feel the work of the many people who fought for justice in urban centers in the North, a place to reflect past civil rights efforts, to imagine new possibilities of collective work, and inspire future action.
Essential Functions:
• Support senior staff in identifying items appropriate for loan, accession, de-accession, and display for permanent and upcoming exhibitions and programs.
• Create and maintain systems, policies, and long-term plans for collections-related projects.
• Complete and implement Collections Plan and Policies.
• Maintain relationships with repositories, library collections, archives, and collections of other museums and cultural institutions.
• Set up and maintain the Museum’s Collections Database.
• Perform routine inventories of collections on display and in storage areas, providing condition reports when necessary.
• Develop and Manage the Museum’s Digital Asset Management System
• Orchestrate the unpacking or packing of collections in an orderly manner and display items as needed.
• Develop plans to support access to the collection for scholars, artists, researchers, and institutional and community partners.
• Work with library, Special Collections, university, and museum archives staff as needed for research and potential loans.
• Secure and manage collections permissions, photographic, and usage rights.
• Conduct occasional collections workshops for staff and partners.
• Create and implement plans for transferring objects and artifacts as needed.
• Catalog institutional archives and collections with integration into the collections database.
• Develop and maintain a formal maintenance plan, schedule, and housekeeping manual for collections on display and storage.
• Develop a Disaster Preparedness Plan for collections on display and in storage.
• Develop conservation budgets and manage all conservation projects.
• Work with the Development Department to research and pursue restoration and collections-related grants.
Education:
• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent, with a master’s degree preferred, in Museum Studies, Collections, Archival Studies, Library Science, Decorative Arts, Material Culture and African American History, Art history, Museum Studies, or Anthropology.
Experience:
• 3 to 5 years of professional experience in collections care management in a museum, library, or archive.
Knowledge and Skills:
• Demonstrated experience, interest, and enthusiasm in material culture, history, art, and social justice.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to work independently.
• Demonstrated experience in managing projects and community engagement.
• Creative approach to thinking about collections work.
• Excellent project management skills
• Effective communication skills, capable of thinking and working strategically and handling administrative tasks thoroughly.
• Have a dedicated work ethic, including being a self-starter with the ability to work independently as well as part of a team.
• Well-organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple projects simultaneously, often under time constraints.
• Excellent database, computer, and time management skills.
• Experience with digital collections, digital photography, and oral histories is a plus.
Working Conditions
• Candidate must be able to maneuver through narrow passageways, climb up/down stairs, and move heavy collections objects with assistance.
• Must be able to stand, stoop, bend, sit, and climb for extended periods of time.
• Must demonstrate visual acuity to assess assets and artifacts accurately.
• Ability to stand in varied institutions and collector environments to assess potential acquisitions.
• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
COVID-PROTOCOL: Following extensive monitoring, research, and advice from internal and external experts, the National Urban League has required all full-time and part-time employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment as of September 13, 2021. “Fully vaccinated” is defined as both Pfizer or Moderna vaccine doses or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and a booster shot. Anyone unable to be vaccinated, either because of a medical condition or disability or a sincerely held religious belief, can request a reasonable accommodation. Successful applicants for this position must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 per the above policy. Mandatory vaccinations support the National Urban League’s commitment to making our workplace and public events as safe and welcoming as possible.
To Apply: Submit a cover letter and resume by clicking the link: https://bit.ly/managercollect
Deadline to apply: April 6, 2024
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