Collections Management College Intern

Description

ABOUT THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM

The Walters Art Museum is among America’s most distinctive museums, forging connections between people and art from cultures around the world and spanning seven millennia. Located in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood, the Walters is free for all. The museum’s campus includes five historic buildings and 36,000 art objects. 

Today, the Walters serves Baltimore and Maryland by embracing its role as educator and storyteller, using the collection as a vehicle of knowledge and cultural expression to support learning, dialogue, and community engagement. The museum is committed to public education, offering essential programs that help people to connect art to their lives. The Walters Visitor Promise aligns staff and volunteers across the museum to preserve and share the works in our care for future generations, partner with communities, and create welcoming, accessible experiences for visitors. The museum offers challenging and creative work opportunities by promoting collaboration, teamwork, and a culture that celebrates the diversity and inclusion of all. In December 2020, the museum finalized a set of multiyear diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI) goals in alignment with the museum’s Strategic Plan and grounded in the following commitments: expand the histories the museum examines and shares; partner with our communities; and center equity, inclusion, and accountability in our culture and decision-making.

Overview of Role

The Collections Management Intern is a team member in the Registration Department. Reporting to the Head of Collections Management, over the course of this ten-week internship starting June 9, 2025, the Collections Management Intern will work on two long-term projects focusing on key aspects of collections care: cataloguing and digitization. These projects are opportunities to learn how museums assess, collect, and organize data, as well as what types of information is needed to fully document museum collections and activities. 

In the cataloguing project, the Collections Management Intern will assess and document historic bases and boxes in order to match them to their original artworks; this project involves working with object records and the museum’s collection management database (The Museum System, aka TMS). The Collections Management Intern will be responsible for photographing, uploading, cataloguing, and organizing data for future research. A second project, focuses on digitizing and archiving past exhibition files. In this project, the Collections Management Intern will work with ResourceSpace, a digital asset management system (DAMS).

Through these projects, the intern will learn more about what types of information museums capture about their collections and the different methods of keeping and disseminating this information for colleagues, the public, and future researchers.  These methods include several databases, historic object records, and the museum archives. Additionally, the Intern will participate in the daily projects and activities of the Registration Department and understand the breadth of responsibilities the Registration Department has (physical object handling, exhibition development process, outgoing loans process, general collections care, database administration). 

The Collections Management Intern is one of several interns in the Walters’ Summer Internship Program. Interns selected for this program will gain insight into museum work, broaden their understanding of the museum field, gain knowledge of and appreciation for the Walters’ historic collection, and receive mentorship and professional development from museum professionals while building peer-to-peer relationships with fellow interns.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Examine, photograph, measure, and fully document any distinguishing features of the box/base in a detailed, accurate, and searchable manner.
• Use The Museum System (TMS) database, paper files, and collaboration with museum colleagues to identify any association with an artwork in our collection. 
• Scan documentation from previous exhibitions.  Organize the data and rename files based on Walters existing filenaming conventions to ensure searchability.
• Upload documentation and metadata into ResourceSpace, a digital asset management system (DAMS).
• Partner with registrars to conduct collections inventory within secure art storage.
• Assist with exhibition and loan documentation with the Associate Registrar.
• Attend department and project meetings as directed.
• Participate in an orientation to the museum and collaborate on and participate in continuing professional development designed with emerging professionals in mind
• All other duties as assigned

Qualifications

• Candidates must be 18 years or older and preferably actively registered at either a community college, university, or trade school or, may have recently graduated from a community college or university
• Preference given to students with relevant experience in library, archives, registrar offices, collections management, or data management.
• Demonstrated proficiency with Google Suite and Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook).  Experience with relational databases a plus.
• Excellent attention to detail and organizational skills.
• Ability to exercise discretion in dealing with confidential information.
• Experience working with team members in a collaborative environment.
• Demonstrated interest in supporting diversity, equity, access, and inclusion (DEAI) 
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Students must be residents of Baltimore City or County or attend colleges or universities in Baltimore City or County
• Must be able to work on site at the museum 5 days per week
• Regular work week is Monday through Friday

Starting Hourly Rate/Starting Annual Salary: $17 

All employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States. The museum does not sponsor work visas. 

Salary : $17