Collections Management Assistant

 

The Museum of the City of New York fosters understanding of the distinctive nature of urban life in the world’s most influential metropolis. It engages visitors by celebrating, documenting, and interpreting the city’s past, present, and future.

 

The Collections Management Assistant is an essential member of the Collections team that focus on costume and textile preparations for our upcoming spring 2025 exhibition. Working closely with the Collections Manager for Costume and Textiles, the Collections Management Assistant will be responsible for ensuring best practices in preventive conservation, collections care, and database management within a collaborative environment. This is a part-time, temporary position that reports directly to the Manager, Costumes Collections.

 

Roles and Responsibilities:

 

  • Apply preventive collections care principles in all activities.
  • Coordinate object viewings for the Curatorial staff.
  • Perform condition checks to determine necessary treatments for display.
  • Organize and manage mannequins for costume displays.
  • Prepare and dress costume objects for exhibition.
  • Document all activities using the collections management system, The Museum System Collections (TMS Collections).
  • Maintain storage spaces to high standards with regular vacuuming and dusting.
  • Conduct collections inventory and process new acquisitions into storage.
  • Assist in the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan.
  • Oversee research appointments for Museum staff and external vendors.
  • Manage collections care, preservation, and storage supplies.
  • Cultivate a collaborative and productive work environment.
  • Perform other duties as needed

 

A successful candidate will have:

 

  • Minimum 1 year of experience working with costume and/or textile collections.
  • Master’s degree in art history, museum studies, costume history, or a related field is strongly preferred.
  • Experience with object handling, packing, transport, and storage of various materials.
  • Strong understanding of best practices in preventive conservation.
  • Skills in object organization, planning, and tracking.
  • Experience with Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
  • Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously with strong attention to detail.
  • Familiarity with TMS Collections or a similar database.
  • A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and a passion for advancing equity and addressing structural racism within nonprofit organizations
  • The desire to work in a collaborative, supportive environment
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Experience with Microsoft Office

 

Physical Requirements & Work Environment

 

Must be able to remain in a stationary position 50% of the time and able to traverse through offices, museum gallery environment, and off-site warehouse at least 90% of the time. Typical workdays may be spent in non-traditional workplaces, including loading docks, collections storage facilities, airport cargo areas, and art transport trucks Requires the ability to ascend/descend a ladder and step stools, position self to service images and objects, and move boxes to assist in installations. Proficiency in operating office equipment and occasionally lifting up to 25 pounds unassisted and 40lbs assisted is essential, along with significant wrist, hand, and finger movements. Strong visual acuity (close, distance, color, and peripheral vision) is necessary for tasks like data analysis, visual inspections of images and objects, and computer use. On occasion, the employee may be required to work outside events with weather conditions including heat and cold. Requires travel to offsite storage facility throughout the five boroughs.

 

BENEFITS

 

This position is paid at $28 per hour for up to 29 hours per week. We provide Sick Leave on an accrual basis to all employees. Your employment relationship with the Museum qualifies you for free or discounted admissions to other participating cultural institutions.

 

The Museum of the City of New York is committed to fostering a collaborative and respectful work environment with a staff as diverse as New York City and the audiences who are curious about learning more about its history and engaging in contemporary urban issues. Our staff members are dedicated to working towards a common goal: creating the most dynamic and inspiring city museum in the world.

The Museum of the City of New York is an equal opportunity employer. As such, the museum provides equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants without unlawful discrimination with respect to age, citizenship status, color, creed, disability, ethnicity, gender identification or expression, marital status, military status or veteran, national origin, political association, political/personal convictions, predisposing genetic characteristics, race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and style), religion (including attire, clothing or facial hair worn in accordance with religious requirements), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions and transgender status), sexual orientation, socio-economic status, geographic location, philosophies, or any other classification protected by federal, state or local laws, in all employment decisions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, promotion, demotion, transfer, lay-off, and termination, and all other terms and conditions of employment. The Museum complies with applicable state and local law governing nondiscrimination in employment which prohibits discrimination and harassment against any employees, applicants for employment or interns, as well as contractors, subcontractors, vendors, consultants, other individuals providing services in the workplace or their employees in every location in which the Museum has facilities.