Founded in 1905, the Schenectady County Historical Society (SCHS) strives to:
1.      To promote and encourage original historical research
2.      To disseminate a greater knowledge of the history of the State of New York and particularly Schenectady County.
3.      To gather, preserve, display, and make available for study relics, books, manuscripts, papers, photographs and other records and materials relating to the early and current history of Schenectady County and of the surrounding area.
4.      To encourage the suitable marking of places of historic interest.
To acquire by purchase, donation/gifts, the title to, or the custody and control of historic sites and structures.

SCHS owns and operates the Schenectady History Museum, the Grems-Dolittle Library, the Mabee Farm Historic Site, and the George E. Franchere Education Center.

Curator  for Society Museum, Collections and Historic Site

Under the general direction and supervision of the Society President the position of Curator is responsible for: management of the Society collections, exhibits, displays, programs and recruitment/training of museum/ historic site volunteers; administration of buildings, grounds, collections, and supervision of curatorial and maintenance staff .

The duties of the position include:
Managing all Society artifact collections.
Overseeing the conservation, management and  timely inventorying of the collections.
Planning and seeing to the development of displays at the 32 Washington Ave Museum and the Mabee Farm Historic Site.
Ensuring the historical accuracy of exhibits, interpretation activities, structures and landscape.
Developing, supervising and conducting programs, special events and public relations for the Museum and Historic Site, including its school programs.
Recruiting volunteers, demonstrators, presenters.
Scheduling displays, shows, seminars, conferences, exhibits.
Directing,  researching and preparing grant applications.
Preparing reports as needed by the President, Board of Trustees.
Communicating effectively, appropriately and timely with Society, Executive Officers, Standing Committee Chairs, Newsletter Editors,  other Society staff and other representatives.
Maintaining a positive work environment which attracts, retains and motivates employees and volunteers.
Meeting periodically with staff, both individually and as a group, to discuss and make aware all to Society direction, time and attendance rules, employee benefits, work scheduling, task completion monitoring.
Directing and assigning of tasks are clearly defined with timely follow up.
Identifying periodically employee needs, site needs, equipment needs
Professionally and appropriately representing Society at meetings, events conferences.

Qualifications

•       Professional research, presentation, writing and communication skills.
•       Experience and knowledge of visitor engagement strategies.
•       Strong planning and organizational skills.
•       Ability to balance competing priorities and meet deadlines.
•       Attention to detail, creative self-starter, and ability to work with minimal supervision.
•       Ability to work collaboratively.
•       Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, Past Perfect, Indesign, research and social networking
•        sites; willingness to learn new software.
•       2 years of supervisory experience

Preferred Experience:
MA in museum science, public history, history, American studies, historic preservation or other related field with a minimum of 4 years full-time, relevant curatorial, project management and collections management. This is a specialized professional position with substantial supervisory responsibilities.

In Word or PDF format, please send a cover letter, resume, three references, a writing example, salary expectations, and dates of your availability to President Schenectady County Historical Society, 32 Washington Ave, Schenectady, New York or via email toPresident@schenectadyhistorical.org. An interview will be arranged for applicants that meet the criteria stated above.