Assistant Collections Manager

Are you looking to be part of an innovative team of professionals dedicated to telling South Carolina's diverse stories? As the storytellers of South Carolina, the South Carolina State Museum (SCSM) strives to share the rich natural and cultural diversity of the state through its permanent collections, programs, and exhibitions. The SCSM is the largest museum in South Carolina, stewarding over 1.1 million objects and specimens and welcoming 5 million+ visitors over its 37-year history.

The museum has embarked on a renovation of 150,000 square feet of its exhibition, programmatic and collection storage spaces occupying four floors of a historic 1890s textile mill on the National Register of Historic Places. Come be a part of our team “reimagining” what the South Carolina State Museum can be for our next generation of visitors, students, and scholars.

The South Carolina State Museum seeks a detail-oriented individual to help manage the physical care of the Natural History collections which tell the fossil and biological stories of South Carolina. Reporting to the Collections Manager, the Assistant Collections Manager for Natural History will work to implement the care of the collection as defined by the Collections Manager. This includes assisting with inventory of the collection, rehousing of specimens, and basic specimen prep.

This position will assist the Curator of Natural History with periodic field collection of specimens and will assist with answering inquiries into the Natural History collection. They will assist the Registration staff with the processing of new Natural History acquisitions into the database and collection and will add records to the database on existing collections as needed.

• Assist with physical inventory of collection, entry of data into the CMS, and support planning for the re-organization of the collection.
• Assist staff with identifying and accessing collections for exhibition, loan, photography, or research purposes.
• Answer research inquiries regarding the Natural History collection.
• Locate specimens and assist Collections Manager with packing specimens for loan requests.
• Assist with storage improvements to the Natural History collection, including rehousing of existing specimens and incoming acquisitions to better align the collection with industry standards.
• Participate in routine monitoring of collections storage to help maintain a safe environment and ensure appropriate relative humidity and temperature levels. Assist Collections Manager with integrated pest management procedures as needed.
• Create catalog records for new and existing specimens. Label acquisitions and place new specimens into storage.
• Assist Collections Management with creating standardized procedures for processing the Natural History Collection.
• Assist staff with digitization of collection through either 3D scanning or photography.
• Assist with basic prep of specimens as requested by the Curator of Natural History, including the creation of consolidates and creating support cradles for storage and transport.
• Assist with offsite field collections of specimens as requested by the Curator of Natural History.
• Participate in monthly departmental cleaning of the museum.
• Assist with object transportation and exhibition installs.
• Participate in all Foundation and Museum donor tours, fundraising, and outreach as necessary.
• Works cross-disciplinarily in a team atmosphere to achieve the museum’s strategic goals.
• All other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution with a focus on vertebrate zoology, skeletal anatomy, or paleontology
• 2-3 years of experience working with standard collections management practices, including object handling
• Excellent verbal &…