Museum Collections Manager/Curator - Buffalo Bill Museum
City and County of Denver
About Our Job
With competitive pay, great benefits, and endless opportunities, working for the City and County of Denver means seeing yourself working with purpose — for you, and those who benefit from your passion, skills and expertise. Join our diverse, inclusive and talented workforce of more than 11,000 team members who are at the heart of what makes Denver, Denver.
What We Offer
The City and County of Denver offers a competitive salary commensurate with education and experience. New hires are typically brought on between $30.20 - $33.86/hour based on experience and education. We also offer generous benefits for full-time employees which include but are not limited to:
A guaranteed life-long monthly pension, once vested after 5 years of service
457B Retirement Plan
140 hours of PTO earned within first year + 11 paid holidays, 1 personal holiday and 1 volunteer day per year
Competitive medical, dental and vision plans effective within 1 month of start date
The Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave is seeking a Collections Manager/Curator to oversee caring for, protecting, and curating the artifact and archival collections. This is an exciting opportunity for a teammate who will help as we work toward sharing our collection online and broadening the stories we interpret to be more inclusive of the performers and company employees of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show.
The museum collects, preserves, and interprets artifacts and archival materials associated with William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, his Wild West show, and the performers who toured nationally and internationally with the show. We are a small museum with a collection of 9,000 items that is of interest to the public, collectors, and scholars. We attract local, national, and international visitors, and have a high visitation rate in comparison to the size of our staff and building footprint.
Location
The Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave is part of the Denver Mountain Parks system and is located at Lookout Mountain Park in Golden, Colorado. Lookout Mountain Park includes the Buffalo Bill Museum and gravesite, a retail shop, picnic area, and related facilities, and has breathtaking views of Golden and Denver.
The typical schedule for this position will be Monday through Friday, 8:45 MST to 5:15 MST, but some evening and weekend hours will be required.
What You’ll Do
Job duties and responsibilities of this position include, but are not limited to, the following:
Care for the museum’s collection of objects, photos, and archives, while adhering to established professional standards regarding acquisition, documentation, housing, and exhibition.
Develop and implement collection-oriented plans and procedures (Collections Management Policy, Housekeeping Plan, Integrated Pest Management Plan, and cataloging procedure guide).
Protect the collection through proactive emergency management planning, preparedness, and response protocols.
Evaluate the conditions and historical significance of items in the collections.
Assist in the development of the museum’s collection through donations and purchases.
Accession newly acquired collection items and manage incoming and outgoing loans.
Train and direct volunteers, interns and museum support staff in collections work.
Carry out or oversee cataloging, scanning, photographing, and storing artifacts and archival items by contractors, support staff, and volunteers according to established professional standards.
Maintain catalog records in PastPerfect Web Edition and publish records online.
Serve as the primary lead for Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) compliance.
Respond to inquiries and photo or information requests from the public, researchers, and other institutions.
Write or support grant applications.
Participate in the development and installation of exhibits, including developing themes, writing and editing exhibit text, selecting and properly installing artifacts, and repacking items after exhibits close.
Assist with educational and outreach programming.
Serve as the designated Manager on Duty on a rotating schedule, managing front-end responsibilities and resolving operational issues.
Develop and steward relationships with tribes, community members, organizations, collectors, scholars, and donors.
Develop collegial relationships with other collection professionals in the area.
Lift and move collection objects weighing up to 50 pounds, and safely climb stairs and ladders.
What You'll Bring
We value diversity of ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, sexual identity, gender, religion, language, ability, and experience and exemplify this through the makeup of our team at all levels. You'll be right at home here if you cultivate strong relationships and push yourself, your work, the people around you and Denver to the next level.
We are seeking a passionate museum professional who thrives in a collaborative, small-team environment and actively champions Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA). As our organization evolves, we need a teammate who embraces our museum as a dynamic work in progress. You should bring a solutions-oriented mindset to unique mountain park facility challenges, recognize our core strengths, and be excited to help shape our future.
Additionally, our ideal candidate will have:
Education: A bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited college in history, art history, public history, museum studies, or a related field.
Experience: Four years of collections experience aligned with professional museum best practices.
NAGPRA Expertise: Demonstrated knowledge of NAGPRA legal compliance regulations and experience directly facilitating consultations with Tribal representatives and THPOs.
Leadership: Proven experience overseeing volunteers, contractors, or museum staff.
Planning: Direct experience writing and implementing collection-related plans, policies, and procedures.
Software Proficiency: Mastery of PastPerfect Web Edition (or similar collections software), including accessioning, cataloging, exhibits, contacts, loans, reporting, and publishing online.
Collections Expertise: Knowledge of artifact and archival care, handling, environmental controls, and standardized documentation.
Historical Knowledge: Familiarity with the history of the American West or late 19th- and early 20th-century American history.
Collaboration: Experience building meaningful, collaborative relationships with coworkers, community members, and Tribal representatives.
Conservation Knowledge: Understanding of the Ten Agents of Deterioration and preventative conservation techniques.
Autonomy: The ability to work independently, problem-solve, and make sound, collections-based decisions without direct supervision.
Required Minimum Qualifications
Education: Graduation from high school or the possession of a GED, HiSET, or TASC Certificate
Experience: Five (5) years of technical or administrative experience performing standard research and evaluation, case management, and/or implementing work processes
Equivalency: One (1) year of the appropriate type and level of education may be substituted for each required year of experience
Application Deadline
This position is expected to stay open until July 14th. Please submit your application as soon as possible and no later than July 14th at 11:59 PM MST
About Everything Else
Job Profile
CA1715 Program Coordinator
To view the full job profile including position specifications, physical demands, and probationary period, click here.
Position Type
Unlimited
Position Salary Range
$26.84 - $40.27
Target Pay
$30.20 - $33.86/hour based on experience and education
Agency
Parks and Recreation
Redeployment during Citywide Emergencies
City and County of Denver employees may be re-deployed to work in other capacities in their own agencies or in other city agencies to support core functions of the city during a citywide emergency declared by the Mayor.
The City and County of Denver provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, or any other status protected under federal, state, and/or local law.
It is your right to access oral or written language assistance, sign language interpretation, real-time captioning via CART, or disability-related accommodations. To request any of these services at no cost to you, please contact [email protected] with three business days’ notice.
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