Collections Assistant

Legacy of the Lakes Museum, Alexandria, Minnesota

Legacy of the Lakes Museum’s mission is to celebrate the shared memories and experiences of Minnesota Lake life and preserve that Legacy for future generations. Guided by this mission, we operate a maritime museum, steward a collection of boats and lake-related artifacts, offer educational programs, host special events, maintain the Legacy Gardens, and manage the BoatHouse Education and Event Center in Alexandria, Minnesota. The Legacy of the Lakes Museum is seeking to conduct a complete inventory of the museum collections.

REPORTS TO:  Kaci Johnson, Director of Communications and Programs

POSITION SUMMARY:

The museum is seeking to hire a part-time, temporary collections assistant to be responsible for cataloging and inventorying the museum collection of objects, photos, and archive materials, currently estimated to be around 500 objects. The work will include reviewing and updating current catalog records to include descriptions, measurements, history, condition, and photographs into the museum’s PastPerfect database.

This is a grant-funded position with funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.

Pay is $16.00/hr, with 544 hours available to complete the project.

The individual selected for this position will have these main responsibilities:

·         Conduct an inventory of the Main Museum galleries, the museum storage room, and offsite storage facility.

·         Update records in PastPerfect with missing information, including descriptions, photographs, a condition memo, location, dimensions, and person and date of recording.

·         Creating a Found in Collection record using the same information in a Microsoft Excel file

·         If time allows, compare the Found in Collection record to physical files in museum office.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• ·         Required:
• o   Bachelor’s degree in museum studies, public history, or other related fields
• o   At least two years of experience cataloging museum collections or museum registration in a  historic organization or agency, museum, or other professional institution
• ·         Preferred:
• o   Familiarity with PastPerfect museum software
• o   Familiarity with either Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets
• o   Experience writing descriptive object catalog entries and handling fragile and unique museum artifacts
• o   Comfortable working in museum collections storage areas, including standing for long periods of time
• o   Must be able to move/position artifacts and equipment weighing up to 30 pounds

HOW TO APPLY:

Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to museum@legacyofthelakes.org. Applications will be reviewed as they are received.

Equal Opportunity Employer