HISTORY COLORADO has a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion and cultural competency, because of that, we are continuously seeking to recruit individuals who will enhance this diversity and ultimately the effectiveness of our organization.

If you are considering a career opportunity with the goal of making a difference, consider joining the dedicated people in the Curatorial Services and Collections Access team at History Colorado/the Colorado Historical Society. Our professionals serve as community partners and stewards of the permanent collection, work to provide access to the state’s rich material heritage and actively seek innovative ways to make history matter. This position reports to the Director of Curatorial Services and Senior Curator. The primary office of the Assistant Curator for Black History and Cultural Heritage is at the History Colorado Center in downtown Denver. In addition to a great location and rewarding, meaningful work, we offer: 

• Strong, secure, yet flexible retirement benefits including a PERA Defined Benefit Plan or PERA Defined Contribution Plan plus 401K and 457 plans
• Medical and dental health plans
• Employer supplemented Health Savings Account
• Paid life insurance
• Short- and long-term disability coverage
• 10 paid holidays per year plus 12 hours of vacation and 6.66 hours of sick leave a month
• BenefitHub state employee discount program
• CafeWell employee wellness program
• Excellent work-life programs, such as flexible schedules and more. 

History Colorado is committed to building a collection that reflects the diverse people who have always called this place home.  Focused on enhancing black history and culture heritage holdings, History Colorado is seeking a dynamic museum professional with experience in curation and community centered projects to build a significantly more robust African American presence within the permanent collection. The position is also responsible for the intellectual control of the collection, and increased engagement with, and access to African American holdings. 

The primary responsibilities of the Assistant Curator for Black History and Cultural Heritage are to: 

• Work with communities, including community advisory groups, in community engagement, collecting initiatives and public programs.
• Assist with managing the African American collection as part of the History Colorado Collection by defining an optimum collection, assessing the needs of the collection, proactive and targeted collecting, assessing incoming donations, making the final determination regarding additions to the collection and deaccessions, and processing and providing care of the collection and associated documentation.
• Interpret and make the collection and its intellectual content available to patrons (both internally and externally).
• Inform or guide other staff regarding the interpretation and use of African American holdings in the collection.
• Assume responsibility for departmental affairs, including the supervision of contact staff, volunteers and interns, project management, reports, budgets and budget expenditures, and reviews and participates in division and organizational strategic planning.
• Serve as a curatorial resource for History Colorado’s community museums.
• Promote the goals and mission of History Colorado through cultivating and sustaining relationships with community groups interested in specific collection holdings, exhibits and/or activities.

• Promoting the mission and goals of History Colorado through cultivating and sustaining relationships with community groups, colleague institutions, partner organizations, educators, and researchers. 
• Participating in the exhibit development process by serving as an assistant exhibit developer (help develop content, draft labels, writes articles, consult on design decisions, develop and participate in programs) for upcoming History Colorado exhibits utilizing the African American holdings.
• Working to build a meaningful collection for the 21st century through the pursuit of a purpose-driven acquisition and deaccessioning program tied to institutional vision and goals and the development and implementation of an updated collection plan in collaboration with other curatorial departments.
• Improving physical and intellectual control of and access to collection resources through processing and documentation in coordination with Collections Management and Registration.
• Using a variety of approaches to outreach, including public presentations, education programs, scholarship, social media, responding to patron and scholarly inquiries, and collaboration with other departments and divisions to realize the collection’s full potential as an interpretive and educational tool and a resource for understanding Colorado history.
• Supervising volunteers and interns.
• Performing other duties as assigned.

Master’s degree in African American Studies, Ethnic Studies or African American History or other relevant graduate degree is preferred with experience in the museum field and a minimum of two years progressive curatorial experience.  Candidate must have demonstrated knowledge of Black history and cultural heritage, the history of the American West, cross-cultural sensitivity, and a thorough understanding of museum ethics and best practices. 

 Also Required: 

• Good communication skills, both written and oral, including evidence of writing and presenting public programs for a variety of audiences.
• Ability to work both independently with minimal supervision and collaboratively in a team environment.
• A minimum of three years of progressively responsible experience working with artifact collections in a museum or other collecting institution with a public audience. 
• Experience developing exhibits in a team environment, including demonstrated knowledge and experience with serving as a lead developer of content for exhibits.
• Demonstrated knowledge of museum practices working with museum collections and proven ability in processing, preservation, and digitization of artifact collections. 
• Experience with information management techniques and database systems used in museums.
• Oversight for departmental operations, including good organizational skills, time management, budget management, facilitating meetings, and professional objectivity.

 PREFERRED CANDIDATE CAN SUCCESSFULLY DEMONSTRATE:

Additional requirements for this position:

• Ability to work occasional evenings and to travel by car or air, typically for periods of less than one week in duration.
• Ability to lift boxes of up to 40 lbs. from 14 ft. shelves while on a ladder.
• A pre-employment criminal background check will be conducted as part of the selection process. Felony convictions or convicted of crimes of moral turpitude or convictions of misdemeanors related to job duties may disqualify you from being considered for this position. Should your background check reveal any charges or convictions, it is your responsibility to provide the Human Resources Unit with an official disposition of any charges. 

ADAAA Accommodations: Any person with a disability as defined by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) may be provided a reasonable accommodation upon request to enable the person to complete the application. To request an accommodation, please contact Dany McCoy (303) 866-2136 or email Dany.Mccoy@state.co.us.