Archivist / Records Manager (Historical Collections)

FedWriters, Inc.•Washington, DC

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Join our team as an Archivist / Records Manager and support the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) headquarters office by preserving a rare, newly-donated historical collection. You will inventory, assess, and digitize decades of donated documents, photos, and artifacts, ensure they're properly catalogued and preserved for the long term, and help bring FTA's history to life for employees, stakeholders, and the public. FWI is expanding rapidly and has been recognized as a 2024 and 2025 Top Workplace by the Washington Post, offering excellent growth opportunities in a collaborative environment. Position is contingent upon contract award.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree (or qualifying education/experience substitution).
6+ years of relevant experience in archives, records management, or historical collections work.
Demonstrated experience with archival preservation and conservation techniques.
Demonstrated experience digitizing physical materials (documents, photos, maps) and managing digital files.

Nice To Haves

Experience building metadata schemas, indexes, or finding aids for historical or archival collections.
Familiarity with digital asset management or content management systems (e.g., SharePoint-based history/knowledge hubs).
Experience writing public-facing historical content (web articles, exhibit text, presentations).
Prior work with federal agency records or historical preservation programs.

Responsibilities

Inventory and physically assess 15 boxes of materials donated to FTA by the family of Bob McManus — official documents, consultant reports, internal manuals, publications, appropriations hearing volumes, and handwritten meeting notebooks.
Evaluate "questionable" or ambiguous items to determine historical value and appropriate disposition.
Apply archival preservation, storage, and conservation techniques to protect fragile physical materials.
Digitize photos, maps, and paper documents; manage a pre-existing set of scanned digital photo files.
Build indexes, metadata tags, and descriptive records; load digitized materials into FTA's History Hub and related DOT/FTA systems.
Support FTA employees, transit stakeholders, and members of the public who need to access or research the collection.
Research the collection's contents (including detailed historical meeting notebooks) to produce web posts, displays, presentations, and articles showcasing FTA's history.