Project Archivist for Photography

Title: Project Archivist for Photography

Location: San Marino

time type: Full time

job requisition id: R0001248

Job Description:

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 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.

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. 

At The Huntington, our organizational Culture is shaped by the following core values: Intellectual curiosity, Collaboration, Stewardship, Belonging, and Integrity.

• Intellectual Curiosity: Knowledge, lifelong learning, and a spirit of inquiry are at the core of our mission and organizational culture.

• Collaboration: Teamwork and a collaborative attitude are important at all levels of The Huntington. We foster relationships internally among our departments and externally with organizations throughout the community.

• Stewardship: We are committed to the care and development of our collections, our financial and physical resources, our staff, and our community.

• Belonging: We strive to attract and maintain a workforce of individuals with diverse talents, backgrounds, and perspectives. Our organizational culture promotes a sense of welcome, inclusion, and connection.

• Integrity: We value respect and honesty, working to fulfill our mission with honor and ethical principles.

About the Role

Working as part of the Technical Services Department, the Project Archivist for Photography will arrange, describe, and process photographic collections. The Huntington Library has extensive photographic holdings. The more than 800,000 photographs date from the 1850s to the present and include outstanding examples of a wide variety of print and negative processes and photographic formats. Photograph collections include historical, documentary, commercial, and fine art photography with special strengths in California and the American West, the American Civil War, Native American and Indigenous Peoples; and documentary photography within corporate and commercial archives.

 

Priority projects for the Project Archivist for Photography include processing the Philip D. Nathanson collection of Southern California stereographs, the Langenheim Brothers glass stereographs and lantern slides, and Stereographs from the London Stereoscopic Company’s series of North America.

The Project Archivist for Photography provides expertise in photographic cataloging and processing. S/he/they creates encoded finding aids and MARC records for the Library’s online catalog according to current national standards and best practices, and ensures materials are housed and treated appropriately. S/he/they contributes to departmental policies, procedures, and the design of productive workflows, including remediation activities to support inclusive description and processing. This position is a member of the Archival Processing Team of the Technical Services Department and reports to the Archival Processing Manager. 

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.

This is a two-year limited term position.

Essential Duties

• Arranges, describes, and processes photograph and visual collections and items, archives, manuscripts, and printed ephemera.

• Creates DACS-compliant encoded finding aids and MARC records according to current national standards and best practices.

• Contributes to policies, procedures, productive workflows, and standards compliance to ensure a user-centered, access-driven approach to archival processing.

• Contributes to reparative description activities to remediate or contextualize outdated or harmful language.

• Monitors current developments, trends, and emerging technologies in the field of archives and special collections and engages with the professional community on a local, state, or national level.

• May perform other related duties as assigned.

Candidate Requirements and Experience

Knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• ALA-accredited master’s degree in library and information science required, or equivalent accredited degree, with formal training in archival theory and practice.

• Knowledge of the history of photography, photographic materials and processes, and the proper handling, care, and storage of photographic and visual materials.

• Demonstrated expertise in arranging, describing, and processing archival collections and preparing finding aids of varying size and complexity. Proficiency in efficient and extensible processing techniques.

• Demonstrated record of preparing processing plans, utilizing various levels of processing, setting goals, establishing timelines, bringing projects to a successful conclusion in a timely fashion, and evaluating outcomes.

• Understanding of and commitment to the use and application of EAD, DACS, DCRM(G), MARC, LCSH, AACR2, RDA, LCSH, AAT and other library and archival descriptive and content standards.

• Demonstrated experience with archival content management systems, such as Archivists’ Toolkit or ArchivesSpace.

• Familiarity with basic preservation of archival materials, including proper handling, housing, and storage.

• Ability to work creatively, collaboratively, and effectively to promote teamwork, diversity, equity, and inclusiveness.

• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.

• Excellent organizational skills including accuracy and strong attention to detail.

• One or more years of professional archival processing experience, preferably in an academic or research library.

Preferred:

• Experience with 19th and early 20th-century American and British photography.

• Experience with XML editing tools.

• Experience with creation and/or implementation of guidelines for the description, arrangement, and preservation of graphic materials.

• Experience enhancing and transforming metadata for archival collections, including manipulating data to integrate unstructured and/or legacy information with standardized descriptions and repurposing metadata for reuse.

Working Conditions  

• Indoor office environment.

• Frequent use of office equipment including computer, keyboard, and mouse.

• Moving boxes and pushing carts of materials.

Compensation & Benefits

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

• Pay Rate/ Range: $73,000.00- $75,000.00. Commensurate on experience.

• Medical, Dental, Vision

• 403(b) retirement plan and matching retirement plan with an outstanding employer match

• Hybrid remote work schedule available for applicable positions

• Considerable paid time off, including annual leave, sick leave, and holidays

• Discounts for staff in The Huntington Store and restaurants

• Free admission to various museums and cultural institutions

• Free passes each month to welcome family and friends to visit the grounds