Job Description

The HistoryMakers, a 501 ( c) (3) and the nation’s largest African American video oral history archive(www.thehistorymakers.org), seeks to hire a Non Profit Digital Media Archivist who will be responsible for the planning and implementation of preservation, cataloguing and records management systems for The HistoryMakers videotaped oral history collection.

The Non Profit Digital Media Archivist will:

1. Process, arrange and catalog the current collection of videotaped and born digital oral history interviews(each interview averages 3-6 hours in length.
2. Adhere to the policies and procedures for managing born-digital materials for ingest, storage, preservation, organization, description, and access.
3. Helps to ensure the accessibility of the collections digital resources including The HistoryMakers Digital Archive(https://da.thehistorymakers.orguser name: [email protected]; password: THMDemo) and other special collections by determining the appropriate intellectual organization and digital storage structure, analyzing the intellectual content of the source material, and conducting historical research for the preparation of metadata descriptions.
4. Design and manage digital collections by establishing the metadata schema, controlled vocabularies, and exercising quality control of the software, equipment and metadata records.
5. Preserve the intellectual and artifactual value of physical archival material by determining the need for performing conservation procedures such as, document cleaning, repair, deacidification, and humidification.
6. Provide access to archival collections by compiling finding aids, creating collection-level records or metadata descriptions, creating finding aids or controlled vocabularies to assist online researchers, and maintaining a database on collections and storage space allocation.
7. Provide reference services for The HistoryMakers archival collections.
8. Assist in fundraising activities in doing research, writing and seeking external grant funding for processing projects, records surveys, online interpretive exhibits, and publications.
9. Promote knowledge and use of The HistoryMakers Digital Archive by making presentations, talks, and/or interviews to the media, library groups, historical societies, and elementary through college classes.
10. Performing all other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have a graduate degree in African American or American history, library science with a concentration in archival management, or other related field. The candidate must have 3-7 years prior experience working in a non profit archive or library with video/AV material resources.

Qualifications

The candidate will have:

1. Significant experience with records management systems for organizational records.
2. Knowledge of standards in moving-image cataloging and the creation of finding aids including knowledge of EAD and EAC-CFP.
3. Experience with videotape formats, in particular Beta cam SP; and migrating collections using an encoding system like Samma Solo.
4. Strong project planning and time management skills;
5. Familiarity with computer databases (i.e. Microsoft Excel, FileMaker, Oxygen, Photoshop) and Microsoft Office Suite.
6. Ability to work in close cooperation with The HistoryMakers Founder & President and our Consulting Archivist.

Salary and Benefits

Salary is commensurate with experience and qualifications. The HistoryMakers also offers a competitive benefits package that includes 403(b), PTO, health, vision and dental insurance, tuition reimbursement and school loan repayment assistance.

The HistoryMakers

The HistoryMakers, the nation’s largest African American video oral history archive(www.thehistorymakers.org), is a one-of-a-kind collection, housed permanently at the Library of Congress. Its website (www.thehistorymakers.org), accessed by millions worldwide, is sited in Wikipedia and used as a “go to” reference tool. Its digital archive(https://da.thehistorymakers.orguser name: [email protected]; password: THMDemo) has been licensed by colleges, universities, K-12 schools and public libraries for use by faculty, students and patrons and is growing in popularity in the wake of COVID19 and the focus on online learning. Within the next few years, The HistoryMakers will become the digital repository for the Black experience: providing much needed content, role models, success pathways and frameworks for a 21st century citizenry that has become increasingly less tolerant, divisive and economically and educationally disparate. 

Please send resumes to:

The HistoryMakers

1900 S. Michigan Ave. | Chicago, IL 60616

[email protected]

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