Associate Registrar

The Henry Ford is seeking a highly skilled and detail-oriented Associate Registrar to join our team. As a key member of our Registrars Office, you will play a critical role in facilitating workflow between various departments, including Curatorial, Experience Design, Exhibits, Collections Management, Conservation, Archives, and Library.

• Manage workflow by coordinating with various departments to develop project requests and schedules related to exhibitions, programs, special projects, and collections processing.
• Lead the creation, management, and maintenance of artifact work requests, monitoring progress against project schedules and making adjustments as necessary to optimize performance.
• Assist Curatorial and Registrar with research and creation of object lists/collection reports.
• Proofread exhibit label text to ensure standards are met in the areas of donor recognition (credit lines).
• Assist Registrar and Curatorial in the proposed deaccessioned phase of deaccessioning artifacts, working with Registrar and Collections Management to coordinate the disposal of deaccessioned artifacts and ensuring accurate information is recorded.
• Maximize intellectual access to collections information through the timely creation and/or modification of electronic catalog information, ensuring quality control through associated lexicon, thesauri, and metadata standards following museum field practices and approved by the institution.
• Practice a high standard of advance research using primary and secondary resources to accurately interpret and catalog collections.
• Understand and apply relevant professional standards and guidelines, keeping up-to-date on revisions in cataloging, including inclusive description practices.
• Assist in the development and maintenance of procedural guidelines for artifact processing and cataloging, facilitating the coordination of Registrar office activities with those of Archives, Library, Conservation, and Collections Management.
• Assist in researching, testing, and implementing technology, standards, workflows, and procedures to meet ongoing stewardship needs for digitization of the collections.
• Manage projects, supervise and train paid staff, volunteers, and interns, monitoring progress against schedules and deadlines and adjusting resource assignments as necessary to optimize department performance.

• Requires an undergraduate degree, preferably in American History, Information Studies, Museum Studies, or a related field.
• Advanced certificate or degree in Material Culture Studies, Museum Studies, or Public History is desirable.
• Two years of training or experience in museum registration, collections management, archival management, or a related area is preferred.

• Experience with computerized applications, particularly collections management, library, or archival management, or database management systems, is required.
• Familiarity with exhibition development and implementation is required.
• Strong organizational, decision-making, and communication skills are essential.
• Excellent research skills and the ability to synthesize information from a variety of sources are required.
• Strong attention to detail, thoroughness, and the ability to proofread are essential.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team is required.
• Familiarity with standard cataloging theories and practices is required.