Collections Management Assistant - Artefact Handling
- Program stream:
- Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations
- Job title:
- Collections Management Assistant - Artefact Handling
- Organization name:
- Bata Shoe Museum
- Job location:
- Toronto, Ontario
- Length of assignment:
- 2018-05-28 to 2018-08-17 (12 weeks)
- Hourly wage:
- $17.00
During the course of this summer project, between 900 and 1,200 artefacts will be digitally photographed. Each artefact will have three views taken, resulting in a total of 2,700 to 3,600 images that will become a permanent part of the museum’s collections management database. In addition, a number of slides and photographs will be digitally scanned and added to the database.
Working under the direction of the Collections Manager, the Collections Management Assistant-Artefact Handling will take the lead on tasks related to preparing artefacts for photography including removing artefacts from storage shelves, handling artefacts, noting the condition, positioning them for photography and replacing them on storage shelves and will share responsibilities with the Collections Management Assistant-Photography for image management and documentation.
Specifically, the Collections Management Assistant-Artefact Handling will be responsible all handling and security of artefacts to museum standards, coordinating with the Collections Management Assistant-Photography to determine the most appropriate position of the artefact in order to get the best shots, processing digital images, uploading and linking files to image server, creating metadata, archiving, filing and administrative duties such as recording time sheets, tracking progress of work throughout the project and creating back-ups daily.
Required qualifications:
* The candidate should be enrolled in a university or college degree program in Conservation, Museums Studies or a related discipline.
* Formal artefact handling training and experience is required
* Good general computer skills including spreadsheets (Excel), word processing (Word), image manipulation and database programs
* Experience working with Adobe Photoshop Elements, MS Access and basic SQL or willingness to learn
* Experience working with digital images or willingness to learn
* Accurate data entry skills
* Good written and oral communications skills
* Bondable
* Previous experience in museum collections management and an understanding of collections management functions is an asset
* Strong commitment to high quality work procedures and end product
* Flexible, innovative and creative
* Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
* The candidate will need to ensure YCW eligibility prior to hiring by confirming in writing that s/he is legally entitled to work in Canada, is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident or has refugee status, is between the ages of 16 and 30 years of age at the start of the job, is registered with the YCW program and is able to commit for the full duration of the work assignment, does not have another full-time job, was enrolled as a full-time student for the semester immediately preceding the job and intends to return to full-time studies in September 2018.
Candidates should apply directly by email or mail to:
Suzanne Petersen, Collections Manager
suzanne@batashoemuseum.ca
Bata Shoe Museum
327 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1W7
This position is partially funded by the Government of Canada through the Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations programme.
The Bata Shoe Museum is centrally located in the desirable Annex neighbourhood of downtown Toronto within a block of two subway lines and minutes walk from the University of Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, Bloor Street shopping district and Yorkville.
For further information consult these websites:
Bata Shoe Museum: www.batashoemuseum.ca and www.allaboutshoes.ca
Google maps for the location of the museum:
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Bata+Shoe+Museum/@43.6672426,-79.4023547,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x882b2f4ab6c7674d:0x4a6ecdaba51dfd2a!8m2!3d43.6672426!4d-79.400166
Tourism Toronto: http://www.seetorontonow.com/
City of Toronto: http://www.toronto.ca/
History
In the 1940s, Mrs. Sonja Bata, Founding Chairman of The Bata Shoe Museum Foundation, began collecting shoes from all over the world. In 1979, when the collection had outgrown available private storage space, she established The Bata Shoe Museum Foundation to manage the collection professionally. Today, the collection consists of over 13,000 shoes and related artefacts.
The foundation has funded various field trips to collect and research footwear in areas where traditions are changing rapidly particularly among aboriginal peoples in circumpolar cultures such as Siberia, Alaska, Greenland, Lapland and northern Canada and Mongolia. The foundation has funded the publication of various books including "The Typology of Native Footwear: Pride of the Indian Wardrobe" on Athapaskan footwear, "The Spirit of Siberia" and "Our Boots: An Inuit Woman's Art", "Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Shoe", and in 2014 " Standing Tall: The Curious History of Men in Heels".
On May 6, 1995, the BSM opened its doors at 327 Bloor Street West. The five-storey, 39,000 square foot building with four galleries, designed by Moriyama and Teshima Architects, is truly unique. There are four galleries at the museum; one of which contains the semi-permanent exhibition "All About Shoes". Exhibitions in the other three galleries change regularly.
The BSM is an important tourist attraction visited by more than 100,000 people a year including 12,000 school children. It is not a corporate museum and does not showcase artefacts from the Bata Shoe Organization. It is the largest museum in the world devoted exclusively to shoes.
The Bata Shoe Museum is a recipient of funding from the Province of Ontario, Ministry of Culture through the Community Museum Operating Grant (CMOG) program and the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund (OCAF). It has received funds for other projects from the Province of Ontario Ministry of Tourism through the Ontario Tourism Event Marketing Partnership Program (TEMPP); from Canadian Heritage through the Museums Assistance Program (MAP), Virtual Museum Canada (VMC), Canadian Culture Online Program (CCO), Cultural Spaces Canada (CSC) and Canadian Arts and Heritage Sustainability Program (CAHSP); and from the City of Toronto through the Economic Development Sector Investment Program (EDSIP).
Back to search