Description

The New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) Office of Cultural Education (OCE) is seeking candidates for a Museum Scientist 3 (Curator of African American History) position in the New York State Museum. This position will provide scholarly, curatorial, and public leadership in documenting and interpreting the African American experience in New York State.

Established in 1836, the New York State Museum is the oldest and largest state museum in the nation, with more than 20 million specimens and artifacts, 125,000 square feet of exhibition space, and approximately 500,000 annual visitors. As the Museum advances into a major period of renewal, this position offers an exceptional opportunity to shape collections, scholarship, exhibitions, and public programs with statewide impact.

As part of the Museum’s History Unit, the Curator of African American History will lead research, collections development, exhibitions, public programs, and partnerships that deepen understanding of African American history, culture, and contributions across New York. The successful candidate will conduct original research, expand collections, and develop exhibitions, publications, educational initiatives, and digital content for diverse audiences. 

Working collaboratively with colleagues, communities, cultural organizations, educators, and scholars, the Curator will provide leadership in advancing the Museum’s long-term approach to collecting, preserving, and interpreting African American history. Under the direct supervision of the Chief Curator of History, duties include, but are not limited to, the following:

Conduct original historical research related to African American history, culture, communities, and lived experience in New York State;

Develop, strengthen, and steward collections documenting African American history in New York, including objects, artifacts, documents, photographs, oral histories, digital materials, and other historically significant resources;

Curate exhibitions and contribute to exhibition planning, interpretation, label writing, object selection, public programming, publications, media projects, and digital content related to African American history and broader New York State history;

Collaborate with educators and curriculum specialists to support K-12, higher education, and lifelong learning initiatives related to African American history;

Develop and deliver lectures, gallery talks, panel discussions, educational programs, public events, and other programs related to current exhibitions, collections, and ongoing research;

Build and sustain partnerships with cultural, educational, and community organizations statewide to support community-engaged collecting, research, and interpretation of New York's diverse African American history;

Produce scholarly and public-facing work for both specialized and family-based audiences, including articles, essays, exhibition texts, collection-based research, web content, presentations, and other interpretive materials that expand access to Museum collections and historical knowledge;

Represent the New York State Museum in professional organizations, conferences, and meetings, and support statewide history initiatives, publications, commissions, commemorations, and other programs;

Identify, pursue, and help manage competitive grants, partnerships, and other external funding opportunities; represent the New York State Museum in professional, academic, community, and public forums; and participate in Museum-wide planning efforts, collections committees, exhibition teams, and cross-disciplinary initiatives that support the Museum’s mission.

Requirements

NON-COMPETITIVE MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
To be considered for appointment candidates must meet the minimum qualifications for this position. The qualifications are:
Bachelor’s Degree and four years of professional experience or a Master’s degree and three years of professional experience or a doctoral degree and one year of professional experience.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: Special consideration will be given to candidates who possess the following qualifications:

Doctorate in History, African American History, Public History, Art History, African American/Africana Studies**, American Studies**, Museum Studies**, or a closely related field;

Two years’ full-time experience working with collections, exhibitions, research, or public programs in a collection-based history institution, museum, historical society, archive, library, university, or comparable cultural institution;

Demonstrated expertise in African American history through research, exhibitions, publications, public projects, presentations at professional and/or public meetings, and/or other content-driven public history projects; and

Demonstrated experience conducting, managing, preserving, or interpreting oral history projects and community-based documentation initiatives that capture and amplify historically underrepresented voices and perspectives.

The ideal candidate will possess strong scholarly and curatorial judgment; demonstrated expertise in African American history; experience developing collections, exhibitions, publications, public programs, or other public-facing history projects; and a commitment to making historical research accessible and meaningful to broad audiences. Strong written and verbal communication skills, sound judgment, attention to detail, and the ability to build collaborative relationships with colleagues, community partners, scholars, educators, and cultural organizations are essential.

APPLICATION: Qualified candidates should send a resume and letter of interest by August 18, 2027 to OCEJobs@nysed.gov (email submissions are preferred). Your resume must clearly indicate how you meet the minimum qualifications for this position. You must include the Box number (OCE-1598/28826) of the position in the subject line of your email and cover letter to ensure receipt of your application. Links to application materials will not be accepted (i.e., Google Docs). Your social security number may be required to confirm your eligibility.

To view the original job posting, visit: https://statejobs.ny.gov/public/vacancyDetailsView.cfm?id=221148