CRDIP Museum Services- Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Summary: American Conservation Experience (ACE), a nonprofit Conservation Corps, in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS) is seeking a Museum Services Assistant interested in dedicating 11 weeks to support Appomattox Court House National Historical Park with cataloging, photographing, and rehousing park collections.

For more information about ACE, please visit: www.usaconservation.org.

Start Date: May 23, 2022

End Date: August 5, 2022

The Cultural Resources Diversity Internship Program (CRDIP) is a professional development internship that introduces students, from backgrounds historically underrepresented in the National Parks, to career opportunities within Cultural Resource Management in the NPS. Applicants must be 18-30 (up to 35 for Veterans) and either A) in pursuit of a higher education degree or B) still be within two years of graduation from a degree program. CRDIP participants will have the opportunity to attend several professional development webinars as well as write blogs or create videos about their projects throughout the summer.

Location: This quiet village and surrounding landscape once composed an average Virginia stage road town with a county courthouse at its center. Its name is now immortalized for the tentative peace brought to the nation from Robert E. Lee's surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant's Federal armies, which also freed 4,600 enslaved people The park has over a dozen restored and reconstructed historic buildings, exhibits, a theater, hiking trails, driving pull offs, and a park store.

For more information regarding Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, please visit the NPS website: https://www.nps.gov/apco/index.htm

Living Allowance: ACE Member is expected to contribute ~40 hours/week and will receive a living allowance of $480/week to offset the costs of housing, food, and incidental expenses, dispersed bi-weekly.

Housing: Park housing will be provided at no cost.

AmeriCorps: This position may be eligible for a 300-hour AmeriCorps Education Award ($1,342.86) upon successful completion of service hours.

Position Description: ​​The ACE member will work with the park's Mary Jones and Chris Calkins museum collections. Mary Jones' family were the last owners and residents of the Meeks Store, one of the park's historic structures now furnished as an 1860's general store. The park purchased the collection from Ms. Jones' descendants in 2018, including a scrapbook, newspaper clippings, confederate currency, Civil War bullets, building material from the McLean House, postcards, and items belonging to Civil War soldier, W.R. Jones. Chris Calkins, a former NPS and Virginia State parks employee, is considered an expert in the Appomattox Campaign and collected Civil War artifacts in the 1960's and 1970's which he has been donating to the park since 2010.

The ACE member will catalog, photograph, and rehouse the Mary Jones and Chris Calkins museum collections, which includes a backlog catalog of about 1,900 unique Appomattox Civil War era artifacts and archives. Objects and materials will be cataloged into the Interior Collections Management System (ICMS) or its successor, the Museum Collections Management System (MCMS), as well as be digitally photographed or scanned and housed according to their physical composition and needs. During cataloging, the intern will document the objects, their condition, and their locations. If time allows, the ACE member will also rehouse rare books in the park's collection storage facility by fabricating custom phase boxes to protect the books from physical damage and may also have the opportunity to participate in routine housekeeping, the annual inventory of museum property, and environmental monitoring activities.

Qualifications:

Required

• Willing and able to represent ACE and the partner organization in a professional, positive, and enthusiastic manner
• Ability to be both self-directed/work alone, and be a positive, contributing member of a group
• US Citizen or Permanent Resident
• Willing to undergo and must pass required criminal history checks
• Ability to perform the essential duties of the position with or without reasonable accommodation
• ACE Members must verify that they are fully vaccinated for Covid-19 by the time they start their term or request a medical or religious exemption

Preferred

• Experience with object handling, cataloging, writing object descriptions, and utilizing a museum collection database
• Experience conducting historical research

To Apply: Please submit your resume, a cover letter demonstrating your interest and experience, and contact information for three professional/academic references to the online application page for this position here: https://usaconservation.applicantpool.com/jobs/. Early consideration will be given as resumes are received. If you have any questions regarding this position please feel free to contact ACE EPIC Program Manager, Jen Wells at jwells@usaconservation.org.

This position will close on Friday, March 4, 2022

EEO: American Conservation Experience provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, American Conservation Experience complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities.

Current Openings for CRDIP Museum Services Appomattox Court House National Historical Park Jobs in Massachusetts (MA) at American Conservation Experience - EPIC