Museum Technician

Museum Technician (General), 
Thomas Edison National Historic Park, West Orange, NJ
Duties

This is a term position (more than 1 year) with an initial appointment expecting to last at least 13 months but may be extended up to a total of four years, or more based on any changes to regulations governing the number of years term appointments may last, without further competition. Term positions do not convey permanent status in the Federal service.

The National Park Service retains the right to extend the duration of this appointment after selection and/or appointment, based on changes to the regulation governing the number of years term appointments may last. This change, which may be made at the agency's sole discretion and without further competition, shall not be construed or interpreted as the granting of a right to a selectee or employee to such an extension. No extension to a term appointment shall be granted to a selectee/employee to an amount of time that exceeds the maximum number of years authorized under any present or current regulation, unless such regulation expressly allows such action.

Thomas Edison National Historical Park preserves the work and character of the famous American inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, and the family, friends, business associates, and employees who played key roles in his success. The park is comprised of the last and largest of Edison's laboratory complexes, as well as Glenmont, the Edison family home. Located in West Orange, New Jersey, the red brick laboratory complex is the site of research that led to the first successful sound recordings, phonographs, and motion picture cameras.

The park's museum collection is the product of Edison's sixty-year career as an inventor, manufacturer, businessman, and private citizen. It is by far the largest single body of Edison-related material extant and is the third-largest collection in the National Park Service with more than five million individual items. Housed both at the laboratory complex and the Glenmont estate, they include history artifacts ranging from laboratory equipment to experimental models, archives documenting Edison's work and life, and natural history holdings.

Major duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Unpacks objects and processes them.
• Performs limited cleaning.
• Identifies preservation needs and recommends additional actions.
• Repacks objects with care, assuring complete labeling that preserves data associated with the objects.
• Photographs collections objects.
• Identifies and labels objects by matching documentation field labels, notes, etc. with the objects.
• Prepares objects for storage or display.
• Inventories, documents, and stores items.
• Seeks assistance for situations not covered by instructions or guidelines.
• Places objects in storage, maintaining the organization already established by the supervisor.
• Prepares, maintains, and organizes manual and automated curatorial records including accession records, catalog records, and donation forms.
• Maintains and organizes other records, such as inventories and object lists.
• Files records in accession folders and affixes catalog numbers to objects.
• Maintains and updates cataloging and database.
• Performs collections care activities as directed.
• Implements museum maintenance and housekeeping schedules.
• Performs routine cleaning of objects as directed and according to established standards.
• Assists in scheduled cleaning of museum collections storage.
• Implements museum monitoring program to include gathering data, maintaining the monitoring equipment, and preparing permanent data records.

See vacancy posting for full requirements.