Curatorial Assistant II

Join a dynamic team of curators committed to the collections at Harvard University’s tree museum. Steeped in history, 152 years of records and objects are ready for discovery, stewardship, and development.

The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is the oldest public arboretum in North America and one of the world's leading centers for the study of plants. Founded in 1872 and designed by America's first landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Arboretum's first director, Charles Sprague Sargent, the 281-acre Arboretum is an historic landmark and one of the best preserved of Olmsted's landscapes.

A unique blend of beloved public landscape and respected research institution, the Arboretum provides and supports world‑class research, horticulture, and education programs that foster the understanding, appreciation, and preservation of woody plants. Along with a horticultural library and herbarium encompassing some 1.5 million dried plant specimens, the Arboretum comprises one of the largest and best documented woody plant collections in the world, with over 16,000 living plants.

To learn more about the Arnold Arboretum, please visit (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)..

Tasked with curatorial support in the Herbarium of Cultivated Plants, the Curatorial Assistant conducts curatorial tasks in the Herbarium of Cultivated Plants, inventories plants in the living collections, and supports other plant records and curatorial initiatives under the supervision of the Manager of Plant Records.

• Herbarium of Cultivated Plants – The Curatorial Assistant supports the care and maintenance of specimens (over 120,000) in the Herbarium of Cultivated Plants and Dried Emerging Leaves Collection of the Arnold Arboretum, located in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Duties include gathering and mounting new vouchers; label preparation; databasing, barcoding, digitization, and insertion. The assistant scouts for and repairs damaged specimens; maintains organization and order of all specimens, including sorting and refilling tasks;
  
  ensures a pest‑free environment through hygienic practices; monitors pest infestations; and maintains rotational freezing and silica refresh schedules of specimens. The assistant also assists visitors and scholars in using the collection, which includes digitization and loans of specimens, and transports and/or ships specimens and supplies to and from Harvard University Herbaria in Cambridge, Massachusetts as needed.
• Living Collections Inventory – The Curatorial Assistant assists with the annual inventory of plants in permanent collections and Dana Greenhouse and nursery. Duties include producing accurate plant inventories, reviewing records in the institutional plant collections database, BG‑BASE, maintaining records and display labels, and at peak times of demand, assisting with accessioning and related tasks.
• Other Duties – The Curatorial Assistant performs other duties, including data entry, records review and audits, and conducts special curatorial projects related to the Arnold Arboretum’s living collections and plant records archives. The assistant serves as a key informational resource to other staff, visiting scholars, students, and the public.

This is a 100% on‑site position, 35 hours/week, with a Monday-through-Friday schedule.

• Must be able to conduct work outdoors in a variety of weather scenarios and plant collections.
• Must not be squeamish around insects.
• Must be able to drive an Arboretum vehicle from site to site when necessary.

• Must be able to bend, reach, stoop, kneel, and lift up to 25 pounds.
• Must be able to walk and stand for up to three hours at a time in indoor and outdoor conditions.

• A minimum of one (1) year of experience in a related field.
• The ability to drive Arboretum vehicles in the landscape.
• Must be able to conduct inventories of outdoor/indoor plant collections and collect herbarium vouchers during all months of the year.

• Bachelor’s degree with coursework in botany, horticulture, or a related field preferred.
• Work experience in plant records or…