Museum Collections Internship

This internship position, within the Department of Cultural Services and under the direction of the Museum Services Supervisor, assists with various museum operations to fulfill the Museum's mission of collecting, sharing, and preserving the community history of Louisville, Colorado.

This is a great opportunity to work in a small, City-owned museum that enjoys demonstrated community support and public interest. This position facilitates relationships with the community and encourages visitors to “Be a Part of the Story.”
 This internship provides the opportunity to work with Museum staff and collections on-site at the Louisville Historical Museum.

The Collections Intern will work directly with the Collections Management Museum Associate to inventory, catalog, and rehouse collection items. The Intern will be expected to handle items with care, uphold best practices, follow direction, and work independently. By the end of the internship, the Intern should have experience with and an understanding of best practices working with a variety of museum objects, cataloging, and inventory procedures.
Schedule: May – December 2026 for approximately 15 hours per week working between Tuesday-Saturday for a maximum of 480 hours over 32 weeks.
 The Museum’s hours of operation are:
 Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday 10 am – 3 pm
  Wednesday 1-5 pm

Work with Museum staff to:

•  Inventory Museum collections, update records, and house or re-house collections appropriately.
• Care for collections including safe handling of historic artifacts, archival storage, housing and re-housing of artifacts, photographs and papers, and cleaning and maintenance of exhibit items and exhibit spaces.
• Assist with re-organizing and maintaining collections storage areas and accessibility of Museum collections.

• Catalog, label, and digitize historic photos, documents, and artifacts in the Museum's collection using PastPerfect collection management software
• Assist with accessioning and processing new donations, updating donor records.

• May perform other duties as assigned such as working with public, assisting at Museum events, and giving tours.

• Bachelor's degree or current enrollment as an undergraduate or graduate student in public history or history, museum studies, or archives preferred, experience working in a museum setting preferred, or an equivalent combination of education and/or experience.
• Education or experience in museums, education, history or relevant field is preferred.
• Familiarity with Past Perfect or other collection management software.
• Familiarity with scanning, photography, Adobe Acrobat, and Excel preferred.
• Interest in learning the functions of an archivist and interacting with collection materials directly.
• Respect and recognition of the need for careful handling of fragile historic objects.
• Desire to learn the history of Louisville through its Museum collection.
• Attention to detail and relaying factual historical information.
• Ability to organize work, set priorities, use time efficiently, and work independently.

• Ability to work independently.
• Attention to detail.
• Ability to complete assigned tasks.
• Ability to use basic computer skills.

 PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE JOB:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to read, speak and hear.  The employee frequently is required to sit and use hands, fingers, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls.  The employee is frequently required to stand; walk; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl.

Position includes lifting, bending, reaching, and stooping to move books and other materials.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The work is performed inside the Museum.  The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
 The City of Louisville offers Equal Opportunity for employment and advancement to all qualified applicants and employees. It is the city's policy not to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, creed, sex, age, national origin, ancestry or disability unless related to a bona-fide occupation qualification. This policy applies to all aspects of employment and the provision of the municipal services. The Human Resources Director has been designated as the compliance coordinator for persons with disability seeking employment and will provide reasonable accommodations for testing and employment to qualified applicants.