The Field Museum is a not-for-profit organization located on the Museum Campus of Chicago. Since the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, we have conducted research across all seven continents and accumulated a collection of over 40 million specimens and artifacts.

The Field Museum is looking for Native American Early Career Fellows to join us for a year of hands-on museum training.

These paid, one-year Fellowships, funded by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation, are designed specifically for Native American recent graduates with lived cultural experience who are interested in careers in museum collections management with opportunities for further study in registration, conservation or curatorship. Fellows work directly with the Native North American collections on-site at the Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois.

Fellows gain experience in managing and preserving items in museum collections. The Fellowships are particularly focused on connecting descendant communities, scholars, and members of the public to the collections. These connections may be made in visits and tours (both virtual and in-person), online outreach, or special events, both in the Museum's collections areas and in public. Successful candidates gain both practical and theoretical knowledge of current museum practice and help improve the Museum's care of Native American collections. Support is provided for relocation expenses, conference travel, and for moving forward in a museum career after the Fellowship has ended.

Applicants will be considered for a start date in early 2025.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Researching item provenience
• Identifying and documenting item construction methods and materials
• Written and photographic documentation
• Providing guidance, or obtaining guidance where applicable, on culturally appropriate descriptions of items, their materials, and their provenience
• Assisting with research into and responding to inquiries about the collections
• Collection management, housing, and storage
• Preventive conservation
• Testing of display case and item materials
• Exhibitions and loans
• Use of Collections Management database systems
• Participation in training workshops

Qualifications:

• Enrolled members or direct descendants of federally- and state-recognized Native American tribes and Alaska Native groups are strongly encouraged to apply. Qualified applicants should be recent graduates (Associates, BA/BSc, or MA/MSc) with lived Indigenous experience, demonstrable cultural competencies, an interest in a career in museums, and the ability to work with diverse Native American communities
• High frequency of strenuous activity lifting heavy items, moving carts, using box cutters, hot melt glue guns, and sewing machines to construct collections storage trays, etc. Ability to work alone or in a team situation required. Must be able to work with collections and records for long hours
• Successful candidates will have excellent verbal and written communication skills

Important Note: In order to protect the health and safety of our employees, guests and their families, the Field Museum is requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Requests for exemptions from the vaccine will not be considered as given the nature of this position, we are unable to provide an accommodation for anyone who has not been vaccinated.

The Field Museum is an equal opportunity workplace and employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, Veteran status, or any other protected class. We strive to create a working environment that is free of all forms of discrimination and one that promotes human dignity and mutual respect among all staff. We believe every member of our organization enriches our diversity by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, to identify challenges, and to discover, design, and deliver solutions.

The Field Museum strives to ensure that our career website and recruiting process are accessible to all. If you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our online application, or if you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to accessibility@fieldmuseum.org.