Collections Associate

National Museum of Wildlife Art; Taos (NM); On-site; USD 46,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

The Harwood Museum of Art, affiliated with the University of New Mexico in Taos, seeks a Collections Associate to manage the permanent collection and incoming/outgoing loans in accordance with professional standards.

Work across curatorial, exhibitions, education, and operations to support acquisitions, conservation, digitization, publications, research, and public access while ensuring long‑term preservation and accurate documentation of the collection.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required and 3+ years related experience.
• Experience with stewardship, documentation, and preservation.
• Ability to coordinate incoming/outgoing loans and condition reporting.
• Experience with digitization, conservation projects, and access programs.

Responsibilities

• Oversees day-to-day stewardship, documentation, cataloging, inventory, storage, and preventive conservation.
• Coordinates incoming and outgoing loans, including loan agreements, condition reports, insurance, packing, shipping, and tracking.
• Maintains the collections management database, metadata, digital assets, and location records.
• Coordinates digitization projects, inventories, and improvements to accessibility and preservation.
• Prepares objects for exhibition, conservation, photography, publication, and research.
• Assists with acquisitions, accessions, deaccessions, and related documentation.
• Coordinates copyright permissions, image requests, and publication materials.
• Provides access and research support to staff, artists, scholars, and the public.
• Collaborates across departments to support exhibitions, publications, and planning.
• Supervises interns, volunteers, and temporary staff in collections activities.

Skills

Documentation

Cataloging

Inventory control

Preventive conservation

Loans management

Collaboration

Research

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Collections management database

Job description

COLLECTIONS ASSOCIATE

The Harwood Museum of Art of the University of New Mexico, based off-campus in Taos, New Mexico, seeks a collaborative and detail-oriented Collections Associate. This key staff member coordinates the stewardship, documentation, preservation, accessibility, and movement of the museum's permanent collection and incoming and outgoing loans in accordance with professional museum standards. Working collaboratively across curatorial, exhibitions, education, and operations, this position supports acquisitions, collections care, conservation, digitization, exhibitions, publications, research, and public access while ensuring the long-term preservation and accurate documentation of the museum's 6,500-object collection. The Collections Associate manages the museum's collections management database and coordinates all aspects of incoming and outgoing loans, object movement, condition reporting, packing and shipping, copyright and image permissions, and collections access. This position also assists with acquisitions, conservation projects, collections research, grant‑funded initiatives, and institutional planning related to collections stewardship while helping maintain the museum's commitment to the highest professional and ethical standards of collections care.

For Best Consideration please apply by 9/14/2026

Minimum Job Requirements

• Bachelor's degree; at least 3 years of experience directly related to the duties and responsibilities specified.
• Completed degree(s) from an accredited institution that are above the minimum education requirement may be substituted for experience on a year for year basis.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required:

• Oversees the day-to-day stewardship, documentation, cataloging, inventory, storage, and preventive conservation of the museum's permanent collection.
• Coordinates incoming and outgoing loans, including loan agreements, condition reports, insurance, packing, shipping, transportation, courier arrangements, and object tracking.
• Maintains and develops the museum's collections management database, including catalog records, metadata, digital assets, location records, and collections documentation.
• Coordinates collections digitization projects, database improvements, and collection inventories to improve accessibility and long-term preservation of collections records.
• Prepares collection objects for exhibition, conservation, photography, publication, research, and educational use in accordance with professional museum standards.
• Coordinates conservation assessments and treatment projects with outside conservators and maintains conservation documentation.
• Assists with acquisitions, accessions, deaccessions, and related Collections Committee documentation in accordance with museum policies and professional standards.
• Coordinates copyright permissions, image requests, photography, reproduction rights, and publication materials related to the permanent collection and exhibitions.
• Provides collections access and research assistance to museum staff, artists, scholars, students, faculty, lenders, and the public.
• Assists in researching, writing, and preparing grant applications, collections reports, inventories, and special projects related to collections stewardship and preservation.
• Collaborates across departments to support exhibitions, publications, public programs, and long-range institutional planning initiatives.
• Represents the Harwood Museum professionally with artists, lenders, registrars, conservators, museums, and community partners.
• Supervises interns, volunteers, students, and temporary project staff engaged in collections-related activities, as appropriate.
• Performs miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned.