Collections Manager

Collections Manager

The Putnam History Museum in Cold Spring, NY, is looking for a part-time collections manager to play a key role on their team. Reporting to the Director of Curation, the collections manager is charged with the care of the PHM’s artwork, artifacts, and archives. The collections manager also aids in the development of exhibitions for the museum, including research, curation, writing, editing, and installation. The PHM’s collection is centered on the Hudson Highlands, with extensive industrial materials relating to the West Point Foundry, 19th century costume history, paintings and photography from the 19th to 20th century, and a local research library and archive.

Collections Management

• Organize, record, track, and database the collection.
• Maintain and update the electronic record of the collection, continuous input and upload of new data and ongoing addition of search terms, key words, and text edits to make objects more easily found.
• Create and update accession documentation, previous ownership, acquisition, provenance, and transfer of ownership to the museum.
• Monitor the condition of the collection to preservation best practices.
• Fulfil photo reproduction requests.
• Manage volunteer and intern projects working in collections processing and organization. Merge intern and volunteer project data into museum database, from excel and word documents.
• Aid in ongoing digitization efforts as projects become available.

Exhibitions

• Aid in research, curation, writing, and editing content for museum projects, publications, and exhibitions, (around 1-3 per year).
• Exhibition display & label preparation, installation, and uninstallation, including minor refinishing of stands and cases
• Manage incoming and outgoing loans for exhibitions.

Best candidates demonstrate

• Attention to detail
• Experience in PastPerfect Software
• Familiarity with reconciling disparate databases
• Knowledge in the best practices for cataloging, curating, and providing easily searchable online access to a wide variety of collections

Requirements:
• Master’s degree in museum studies or related field is highly desirable
• Or at least 3-5 years of professional experience in preservation, collections management, exhibition curation, or a related field.
• Or a combination of education and experience that has provided the knowledge necessary for the position.

This is a part-time, in-person position, offering 12-14 hrs/week, $25/hour.