Please visit Paleobotany Collections Manager for complete job posting and application instructions.
The Field Museum is a not-for-profit museum located on Chicago’s Museum Campus. In the Field’s 125+ year history, which started in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition in the “White City,” we have engaged in research on all seven continents, cultivated a collection of over 40 million specimens and objects, engaged with hundreds of thousands of students from Chicago and the surrounding areas, and welcomed millions of visitors to the Museum each year. We accomplish this through the efforts of our dynamic and diverse staff of not only scientists and educators, but also front line staff in Visitor Services and Membership, Protection Services, Facility Planning and Operations, as well as behind the scenes support staff.
The Field Museum has an immediate opening for a Paleobotany Collections Manager. This full-time, permanent position reports to the Head of Geological Collections in the Gantz Family Collections Center. The Collections Manager is responsible for the management and development of one of the largest fossil plant collections in North America, in collaboration with the curator of paleobotany. The Paleobotany Collections Manager position is focused on management of the paleobotany collection (80%), with some allowance for personal research activities (20%).
The fossil plant collection includes over 200,000 specimens, peels, slides, bulk samples and residues, of which more than half are catalogued. It contains more than 14,000 published specimens. Three recently accessioned collections from Michigan State University, Penn State University, and Ohio University have added significantly to the scope and balance of our plant fossil holdings. Strengths include the Paleozoic collection’s compression/adpression and anatomically-preserved specimens: Mississippian compression fossils from North America, Pennsylvanian coal balls and associated peels and slides, and siderite nodules from Mazon Creek form the core of the Paleozoic collection. Cretaceous and Paleogene fossils include charcoalified mesofossils from North America, and compression/adpression fossils from the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains. In addition, there are more than 100,000 palynological slides spanning Precambrian to Recent.
The Museum encourages applicants with demonstrable expertise in collections management. We are seeking a highly responsible, detail-oriented individual with the necessary management and curatorial skills to oversee a major collection.
Applications may also be sent to this account: collectionscentersearch@fieldmuseum.org
The deadline for applications is Friday, May 6, 2022