New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (NEYM), the denominational organization of Quaker congregations in the six New England states, is seeking applicants for the part- time independent contractor role of Outreach Archivist. The NEYM Archives and Historical Records Committee—which will work closely with and be supported by the Outreach Archivist—is responsible for both encouraging meetings (local congregations) and other groups within the Yearly Meeting organization to adopt good practice to preserve and donate their records to the New England Yearly Meeting Archives held by the Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) at the W. E. B. Dubois Library at UMass Amherst.
Responsibilities
The Outreach Archivist will work with the Archives Committee and SCUA to reach out to meetings within New England Yearly Meeting to ensure that they are creating, gathering, and transferring permanent records to SCUA. This work will include identifying meetings and committees whose records are not complete and, where possible, working with those groups to find and transfer those records. The Outreach Archivist will also provide workshops and consultation to groups within New England Yearly Meeting on both record-keeping and helping to identify what should be transferred to the Archives at SCUA. The Outreach Archivist will provide reference consulting to Meetings regarding
both locations of existing records as well as support in what and how they should archive Meeting records.
The Archivist will meet regularly with the Archives Committee and will need to be able to travel and meet with groups such as quarterly meetings (regional sub-groups of congregations), to offer information sessions or workshops at Yearly Meeting Sessions (annual conference), as well as local meetings throughout New England.
Qualifications
Required or preferred qualifications include:
- Knowledge of Quaker history and organizational structure and/or experience with other religious records
- Knowledge of archival best practice
- Experience as both a practicing Quaker and a practicing archivist
- An interest in working closely with a wide range of people
- Experience in planning and leading workshops
- The ability to travel with a personal vehicle
- The ability to occasionally work nights and weekends
It is anticipated that this consulting position will require 125 to 200 hours per year. The hourly rate will be based on experience and professional qualifications, within a range of $50.00 to 65.00 per hour. Mileage reimbursement will be provided for any required travel. The hours worked are expected to be invoiced at least quarterly by the consultant. These invoices will include description of services provided as well as hours worked and mileage accrued.
Please submit resume and cover letter of interest to archives@neym.org.
– Posted 6/6/23