Registrar, Collections & Exhibitions

About the role

Friends of the New York Transit Museum is seeking a Collections & Exhibitions Registrar for its expanding collection and programming. The New York Transit Museum (NYTM) is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and presenting materials related to the region's public transportation history, both past and present, with a focus on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its predecessor companies. Established in 1976, the Transit Museum currently boasts a collection of 1 million items, including 500,000 photographs, 8,000 artifacts, and over 4,300 cubic feet of historical records, as well as vintage vehicles such as subway cars and buses. The Registrar will work as a part of the Curatorial & Collections team, responsible for the acquisition, management, exhibition, and outreach of the Museum’s collections.

Responsibilities

• Loans and Exhibitions: Manage logistics for incoming and outgoing loans and traveling exhibitions, including insurance coverage, packing, and shipping. Participate in all aspects of exhibition process from planning to installation and removal, including object assessment, creating condition reports, packing objects, coordinating shipping, and supervising exhibit furniture.
• Logistics: Track the movement of collections, ensuring precise location information is recorded, as well as labeling, packing, arranging shipping, and securing insurance coverage when necessary.
• Management: This is a supervisory position that hires, trains, and manages art handlers and technicians, interns, contractors, and project-specific staff, assigning work, evaluating performance, and making staffing recommendations. This position co-manages the Exhibit Technician with the Senior Exhibits Manager. Also sets and enforces collection policies for all staff and contractors.
• Collection Assessment: Survey and assess potential acquisitions, whether they are on-site or in the field, to determine their suitability for inclusion in the museum's collections. Assemble acquisitions dossiers and assist the Collections Manager in planning Collection Committee meetings to seek approval for potential acquisitions. Work with Collections Manager to assess current collection state and needs.
• Documentation and Record Keeping: Oversee all legal documentation related to acquisitions and deaccessioning, including deeds of gift, transfer forms, and purchase agreements, and assign accession, loan, or reference collection numbers. Generate and maintain accurate records of all collection activities, including accessions, loans, transfers, ownership, provenance, disposal, copyright, and conservation.
• Museum Collection Management and Cataloging: Create and maintain exhibit and accession records in the Museum Collection Management system, PastPerfect. Create and manage computerized catalog records, documentation images,