Museum Curator (Fine Arts)

Join us for an upcoming information session regarding our Summer 2022 job posting!

National Park Service Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park

GS-9/11 Museum Curator (Fine Arts)

CANDIDATE INFORMATION SESSIONS: Position to be advertised in Summer 2022

APRIL 26, 2022, 5:00pm (Eastern): https://doitalent.zoomgov.com/j/1614268804

Meeting ID: 161 426 8804 Passcode: 123456, Join by phone: 1 646-828-7666

APRIL 27, 2022, 12:00pm (Eastern): https://doitalent.zoomgov.com/j/1603177881

Meeting ID: 160 317 7881, Passcode: 123456, Join by phone: 1 646-828-7666

Do you have museum curatorial and/or art history experience and are looking for a permanent placement at the home of one of America’s premier artists in a beautiful part of the country? If so, the team at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park would like to invite you to join us for an information session on for our vacant museum curator position! This session will cover what you will need to qualify and apply for this opportunity. The recruitment announcement will be posted following the information session and applications will be accepted via www.usajobs.gov.

The incumbent of this position serves as the museum curator (with a focus on fine arts) for Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park in New Hampshire and assists with curatorial functions for Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Vermont.

The museum curator serves as the park’s subject matter expert on all aspects of museum collections care and management, with a focus on fine art collections of bronze, plaster, and marble sculpture, paintings, works on paper, and decorative arts, as well as archival materials. The curator is a hands-on position that requires comfort working with an actively used fine art collection, preparing pieces for loan, coordinating the work of fine art conservators, developing funding priorities, reviewing research reports, maintaining museum documentation, implementing efficient use of storage and innovative rehousing methods, and leading and coordinating historic housekeeping and preventative conservation for a significant historic house museum and several outdoor public monuments. The curator ensures that professionally recognized museum procedures are applied in all operations in accordance with the park’s status as a museum facility accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The curator represents the park director/superintendent when working with external partners on cultural resource or museum management matters, actively builds partnerships with outside academic institutions, researchers, and special interest groups, and works closely with the park's Visitor Experience team to devise and pilot initiatives that engage the public in learning about the park’s robust collections and unique histories.

The curator will have or develop a strong working knowledge of the artistic history of late 19th and early 20th century paintings, sculpture, and paper works, particularly works by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and members of the Cornish Colony of artists, and will become a resource to the art historical community on these subjects through the development of publications, articles, presentations, responses to research requests, and informal conversations with art historical colleagues. The curator coordinates the rotation of objects from the park’s collection for exhibit in park galleries, organizes periodic special exhibits of thematic materials from the park’s collection, and coordinates with the park’s partner organization, the Saint-Gaudens Memorial, on annual contemporary art exhibitions in one of the park’s galleries.

This position directly supervises a junior professional museum technician and also coordinates a museum internship program that prepares the next generation of museum professionals for careers in the museum field.

This position is duty stationed in Cornish, New Hampshire, but may also spend some work time 30-minutes away at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont, which holds an extensive collection of Hudson River School and associated artworks, as well as Asian ceramics, historic furnishings, and decorative arts. The two parks are jointly managed. The position reports to the supervisory curator at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. Starting salary for the position will be between $54,727 (GS-9) and $66,214 (GS-11) for employees new to federal government employment and salary will increase at established intervals with satisfactory performance. As a permanent federal employee, you will be eligible for the full suite of federal employment benefits, including health insurance, a three-tiered retirement program, and other benefits.

About the Parks:

The parks tell diverse stories including art, conservation, African-American history, strong and visionary women, agricultural history, and recreation, just to name a few.

Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park preserves the home, studios, gardens, and museum collection of American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The museum collection consists of over 10,000 catalogued items including hundreds of original works of art. The park boasts the largest collection of Saint-Gaudens sculpture in the world and is regularly contacted by national and international scholars interested in the work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens and the Cornish Colony. The park operates in partnership with the Saint-Gaudens Memorial to advance programs and educational opportunities that promote public awareness of Saint-Gaudens, his work, and sculpture in general including a robust concert series, art exhibitions and fellowships, student scholarships, and support of conservation treatment of museum objects and acquisitions of unique works of art by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and the Cornish Colony. The Park: www.nps.gov/saga The Saint-Gaudens Memorial: saint-gaudens.org

Area Information:

The position is duty stationed at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park.

Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park is located in the inspiring landscape of Cornish, New Hampshire, which has attracted renowned artists to the area since Saint-Gaudens’s time. The site was operated as a non profit museum by the Saint-Gaudens Memorial starting in 1919. The park was established in 1965 and its mission is to preserve, and interpret the properties associated with the life and achievements of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) and to promote the arts through events in the spirit of those conducted by Saint-Gaudens and the Cornish Colony. The National Park Service manages and interprets Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s home, Aspet, his studio, classically inspired gardens, and cultivated landscapes and forests; and Blow- Me-Down Pond and Mill and Blow-Me-Down Farm, which are associated with Charles C. Beaman Jr. who was instrumental in bringing Augustus Saint- Gaudens to Cornish and establishing the Cornish Colony of artists.

New Hampshire has no income tax and no sales tax and has many affordable communities nearby that offer an outstanding quality of life. Full-service communities near Cornish include Lebanon, Claremont, and Hanover, New Hampshire, and Windsor, White River Junction, Woodstock, and Springfield, Vermont. The areas largest employers are Dartmouth College and the medial industry, including the only academic medical center in New Hampshire.

The climate includes four distinct seasons, including mild summers with countless opportunities for outdoor activities, legendary autumn colors that bring visitors flocking to the region, and winters that provide opportunities for alpine and Nordic skiing, skating, and other pursuits. Boston is 2.5 hours from Cornish while Montreal, Quebec, is just over 3 hours away (and rural French Canada is even closer than that). New York City is approximately 5 hours away and can also be reached by daily Amtrak or luxury coach bus service.

Information Session:

Applying for a job with the federal government is different than applying to a job with a non-profit or city/state operated museum. You will need more than a CV to be found qualified. Applicants for federal employment must have a federal resume that includes key information about work experience, education, training, awards/recognition, etc. This information session will provide prospective candidates new to applying for federal jobs with the necessary information and tools for submitting your resume for this position.

In addition, there are multiple pathways that may allow candidates to qualify for this position. This information session will allow us to evaluate how candidates might qualify for this position and then advertise the position accordingly.

Paths for qualifying for this vacancy include:

Information on how to apply for this position will be shared at the information session. If you have more questions about this information session please email: SAGA_Superintendent@nps.gov