MUSEUM REGISTRAR

Arizona Department of Administration • Tempe, AZ

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Arizona Historical Society (AHS) is a nonprofit organization and state agency established in 1864. AHS connects people through the power of Arizona’s history. AHS collects, preserves, and tells the story of Arizona’s past through museum exhibitions, libraries and archives, historic sites, educational programs, and the Journal of Arizona History. AHS seeks to be the driving force strengthening Arizona’s communities by promoting history through leadership, partnership, and scholarship.

This position performs a complex combination of tasks involved with acquisition, accession, deaccession, record keeping, management and disposition of the museum's collections. This includes the creation and maintenance of records of artifacts and objects to provide for their legal protection, safety and insurance coverage, and reflects their handling, transportation, control and storage of objects and artifacts. This includes the responsibility for the agency's maintenance and computerized record systems and hard copy files of the museums collections and loans, and attends and participates in meetings, committees and teams that support the Strategic plan and Agency's Mission. Supervise interns and volunteers, to include performance, mentoring and training.

Requirements

• Museum registration procedures and legal issues concerning museum collections
• Collections management and database filing systems
• Arizona and Southwest history
• Packing and shipping methods
• Museum preservation and storage practices
• Cataloging, research, data entry, and marking artifacts
• Oral and written communication, packing artifacts for transport, examining objects and noting their conditions
• Attention to detail
• Learn Agency's collections policy and procedures
• Organize data
• Compare and analyze data and to recognize and remember patterns
• Work well with staff and the public
• Follow rules, laws, policies and ethics
• Must be able to obtain a valid state driver's license.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor's degree in History or related field, MA in History, Public History, Museum studies or related field or 3 years experience.

Responsibilities

• Accession, research, inventory, catalog and manage museum artifacts and collections objects in accordance with agency policy and procedures. Performing re-cataloging as part of continual inventory including photographing artifacts for identification, insurance, conservation and management purposes.
• Corresponds with potential donors and evaluates historical relevance of donated objects, records collections through a manual and computer system of forms, legal documents, files and retrieval systems associated with the collections accession, de-accession, cataloging, loans, packing, shipping, inventory, insurance and storage, processes and tracks objects throughout the deaccessioning process.
• Supervises and trains volunteer workers, interns or work-study aides in registration, cataloging, and storage tasks. Mangers performance, training and mentoring of volunteers, interns or work-study aides.
• Responds to inquiries from scholars and the general public, and participates in team meetings offering support and advice.
• Aids in the research and monitoring of policy trends within the museum collection management field, contributes to discussions on changes to collections policies and plans.
• Presents museum objects to the public through educational tours, social media posts, and community outreach events, and aids in the installation of objects for exhibits.
• With other staff, make arrangements for packing, unpacking, communications, transfer and transport of incoming and outgoing loans with various institutions and private lenders.

Benefits

• Sick leave
• Vacation with 10 paid holidays per year
• Paid Parental Leave-Up to 12 weeks per year paid leave for newborn or newly-placed foster/adopted child (pilot program)
• Health and dental insurance
• Retirement plan
• Life insurance and long-term disability insurance
• Optional employee benefits include short-term disability insurance, deferred compensation plans, and supplemental life insurance

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Associate degree