Archives Intern
Jewish Museum and Archives of BC

Location: Vancouver, BC
Compensation:  $19/hour

The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia (JMABC), administered by The Jewish Historical Society of British Columbia (JHSBC), is seeking two Archives Interns, working to process archival holdings and digitize documents of great importance. This contract position will commence December 2021 and end approximately April 2022 (approximately (20 paid work weeks, including Jewish and statutory holidays). As part of the mandate of the JMABC, the archives documents, acquires and preserves archival records, thereby safeguarding the history of the Jewish community of British Columbia. As the JMABC's work place and visitor base is largely English speaking, the language for the project is English. The Jewish Museum and Archives of BC is administered by The Jewish Historical Society of British Columbia (JHSBC) and is located in the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture in Vancouver, BC. This project is currently expected to be a split of remote and in-person work, pending provincial health guideline changes.

Description and Duties    

This project will focus on processing and providing collection-level access to approximately two to four medium sized fonds in the JMABC holdings (to be selected by the intern and archivist to suit mutual goals), thereby building towards a goal of improving the discoverability and accessibility of the JMABC archival holdings.

Secondly, the project will also include the digitization of approximately 37.5 cm of material from Congregation Emanu-El. Located in downtown Victoria, Congregation Emanu-El was founded in 1862 as immigrants flooded the city on their way to follow the Gold Rush. Research requests for these materials are ever mounting, and having digitally accessible records available to researchers worldwide is of great importance to the JMABC in the coming years.

The Archives Interns will be responsible for processing these collections, including appraisal, arrangement, description, and the creation of finding aids, which will then be made available through the JMABC's online database, AtoM (Access to Memory). The Archives Intern will also be responsible for digitizing, including scanning and using Photoshop, archival documents, and creating item-level entries on AtoM for each document.

The archival collections that the Archives Interns may select from include personal and institutional fonds; specifically family fonds from a number of prominent philanthropists and community leaders, and volunteer groups in the performing arts sector. Upon the completion of this project finding aids will greatly enhance the public accessibility of these collections, as well as improving the internal ability to prioritize collections for digitization and exhibition. Select items from each fonds may be digitized to enhance the JMABC's AtoM digital assets.
 

Qualifications - Requirements

The ideal candidate for the Archives Intern at the JMABC will have:

• A demonstrated interest in working in an archival or heritage institution shown through previous volunteer or paid work experiences and/or an academic background in a related field such as history, anthropology, museum studies, library studies or archival studies. Preferences may be given to recent graduates of Archival Studies programs.
• Basic computer skills and will be comfortable working independently at a computer station. Any experience working with databases or digital imaging software such as Adobe Photoshop will be considered an asset.
• Excellent English communication skills, both written and verbal.
• An enthusiastic attitude.
  

In addition to the above qualifications, all candidates must meet the following requirements dictated by the Young Canada Works program:

• Must be a recent graduate of an accredited post-secondary institution. A recent graduate is defined as an individual who has graduated from college or university within the last twenty-four months.
• Must be between 16 and 30 years of age at the start of employment.
• Must be legally entitled to work in Canada.
• Must be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or have refugee status in Canada.
• Must be registered in the YCW candidate inventory.
• Must be willing to commit to the full duration of the work assignment.
• Must not have another full-time job (over 30 hours a week) while employed with YCW.
• Must not be receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits while employed with YCW.
• Must not have previously participated in or been paid under this or any other Career Focus internship program funded under the Government of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy.
  

Application information

This position is dependent upon receipt of funding through the Young Canada Works. Candidates must meet the eligibility criteria to be considered for this position.

The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia advocates a barrier-free workplace and encourages all qualified candidates to apply.

This position is rolling and will accept applications until filled.