Curatorial Assistant Jobs

About Us

At The Huntington, we believe that having a team of diverse backgrounds and voices working together will enable us to support and promote the appreciation of the humanities, the arts, and botanical science. The Huntington is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, disability, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by local, state or federal law.

The Huntington

Founded in 1919, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens is a collections-based research and educational institution open to the public, housing world-class library, art, and botanical collections. Its mission is to support research and promote education in the arts, humanities, and botanical science and to display and interpret its extraordinary resources for diverse audiences.

The Culture

Here we are committed to the highest of standards in all that we do – from preserving and protecting the collections, to exhibitions, educational and scholarly programming, visitor and reader services, and beyond. Achieving excellence across these pursuits requires a diversity of perspectives, expertise, experience, and methodologies. We are better together. We believe an explicit commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion directly impacts and improves staff and audience engagement and experience.

About the Role

The Curatorial Assistant performs in-depth collections research for on-going and special projects in support of the Library Division's curators. The incumbent is part of the Library Curatorial Department Office staff and reports to the Head of the Library Curatorial Department.

S/he/they will demonstrate a background of working directly with people from diverse racial, ethnic, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds, using a welcoming, inclusive, and accessible approach.

Essential Duties

• Serve as department point person to assist with requests for images for the Store, Education, Communications, and special projects. Works regularly with institutional Digital Asset Management System (DAMS).
• Provide in-depth research for curators to assist with collection development, acquisitions, exhibitions, and presentations, with a particular emphasis on provenance research.
• Assist curators with creating PowerPoint presentations.
• Manage Curatorial Department office in the absence of the Administrative Assistant, including filing, copying, sorting mail, answering phones, and other duties as assigned.
• Transcribe and transform legacy information about collections into appropriate digital platforms to increase access and dissemination of internal knowledge built up around collections.
• Assist curators and Reader Services staff with the creation of online research guides and other web-based content. Proofreads and verifies the accuracy of content.
• Work collaboratively with staff from Reader Services and cataloguing units on special projects as directed by Head of Library Curatorial Department.
• Serve as department point person to assist with reference questions and route requests to appropriate curators.
• Assist with logistics for exhibitions, working closely with curators and Library Registrar. This may include paging collection materials, taking reference photos, compiling labels, and helping to transport collection materials.
• Assist curators with show-and-tells and collection-based programs.

Candidate Requirements And Experience

Knowledge and Skills:

• Ability to handle fragile and heavy rare materials with care and to maneuver book trucks
• Understanding of library resources and academic research
• Ability to work with strong attention to detail, discretion, and accuracy
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Ability to work with coworkers at all levels in a cross-divisional/departmental collaborative environment
• Bachelor's degree in history, literature, or a related field in the humanities
• Current knowledge of research methods and digital tools
• Reading knowledge of one or more Western European languages other than English
• Strong proof-reading skills
• Knowledge of provenance research resources like WorldCat, Internet, ArchiveGrid, ABPC, via Libri, ILAB Missing Books Register
• Understanding of image files, basic metadata standards, and image editing software

Experience

• Experience and/or training with common office and library applications, such as Microsoft Office, FileMaker Pro, Adobe Acrobat, and HTML editors
• Requires a minimum of 2 years of experience in curatorial/administrative support, or equivalent experience dealing with library work.

Working Conditions

• Normal office environment and secure library stack areas.
• Much work is performed on a personal computer.
• The incumbent will be required to lift heavy books, boxes, furniture and equipment up to 30 pounds, and to maneuver book trucks filled with books.
• This position requires care and caution in handling or moving library materials or supplies and book trucks.

Compensation & Benefits

We provide competitive compensation, generous benefits and perks for all eligible employees including:

• Pay Range: $23.00- $25.00/hr. Negotiable and commensurate on experience.
• Free passes each month to welcome family and friends to visit the grounds
• 403(b) basic retirement plan and optional matching retirement plan with an outstanding employer match
• Considerable paid time off, including annual leave, sick leave, and holidays
• Hybrid remote work schedule available for applicable positions
• Medical, Dental, Vision
• Access to the Museums Council pass, which grants free admission to various museums and cultural institutions
• Discounts for staff in The Huntington Store and restaurants

The Application Process

Please submit a cover letter and CV/resume as a single PDF attachment.

You will have the opportunity to submit additional documents on the “My Experience” section of the application.

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