Center History Archivist

The CFH Archivist will work to achieve the goals of Center for Family History (CFH) in fulfillment of the mission of the International African American Museum (IAAM) as well as to help colleagues throughout the organization succeed. This position is an integral part of CFH’s team and is primarily responsible for the maintenance of IAAM’s CFH digital archive and projects and adherence to the policies, procedures, inherent therein.

Additionally, they will oversee a robust calendar of African American genealogical and historically focused webinars that collectively form the Untold:
African American Stories podcast series.

The Archivist will also support specialized genealogy and family history reference and research services for CFH’s patrons both onsite and offsite. This includes services and programs that address individual and group needs, including genealogy/research-related reference and collections use, research spaces, and content delivery. This position also provides research and publication support for the CFH suite of programs, and when required other IAAM programs.

The Archivist will provide administrative and programming assistance to CFH Director, which will require working weekends on an agreed schedule.

• Collaborates with CFH Director to align priorities, coordinate and provide public programs, and undertakes assignments necessary to meet deadlines and advance CFH’s work
• Leads, manages, and develops CFH’s digital archive in concert with IAAM collections policies and procedures
• Manages all aspects of CFH’s digital collections, following and implementing accepted Museum professional standards and practices. Directly manages the accession and documentation of documents, photographs, family bibles, and similar artifacts and correspondence with artifact donors in concert with exhibition collections management
• Manages CFH archive database development for all collections materials. Is responsible for digitization of resources to be included in the database, metadata development, and development of database search capabilities
• Performs archival research on African American-related collection materials and/or artifacts for inclusion in records and databases, including provenance research in coordination with CFH Director
• Works directly with CFH Director to manage project workflow and oversees daily milestones for digital support needed for development projects
• Applies knowledge of African American history and uses it to inform archival research
• Supervises access to archives for study, exhibition, and research by the public using the archive resources on the CFH archive website
• Supervises researchers, interns and volunteers when working in support of the archives, including training on scanners and on the handling of fragile and rare/valuable documents, books, etc.
• When directed by CFH Director, or when CFH Director is absent, the Archivist manages CFH staff, volunteers, and student interns and their work on various research projects, including overseeing training methods, assignments, required disciplinary actions, and transferring staff, volunteers, and student interns to other projects
• Provides guidance to CFH Director and CFH staff on areas such as archival research methodology, and analysis
• Ensures the highest quality standards for CFH’s archival and research projects by reviewing student research and offering suggestions for evidence analysis and improvements
• Actively seeks digitizable archival materials of local/regional/national interest to add to the archive
• Provides training and support for staff, interns, and volunteers on archival, programming, and archival research techniques
• Stays informed on issues relating to African American genealogy and standard archival methods

• Assists with the creation and delivery of services and programs that address patron research needs on subjects including African American genealogy, primary sources, and African American history
• Prioritize improvements to, enhance, and monitor CFH led programs in alignment with IAAM public programs standards. CFH programming consists of, but is not limited to, webinars, public scanning events (IAAM History), the…