Museum Registrar

Position Summary

The Museum Registrar at Vanderbilt University Museum of Art (VUMA) is the primary hands-on specialist responsible for the stewardship, safety, handling, and documentation of the museum’s art holdings. This role builds and applies collections management policies, standards, and workflows, while also supporting staff training on collection care practices and contributing to exhibitions and public-facing programs. The position reports to the Director and works closely with both campus and external partners.

About VUMA

VUMA holds 20,000 objects, making it the largest art museum collection in Tennessee and the only encyclopedic collecting museum in Nashville. Its strengths include U.S. and European works on paper from 1500 to the present, East Asian art, twentieth-century photography, and modern and contemporary art. The museum presents exhibitions spanning art from antiquity to contemporary practice and seeks to use art as a place for curiosity, empathy, and exploration of major human questions across Vanderbilt University and middle Tennessee.

Core Duties

• Maintain accurate records for the collection and exhibitions in both digital and physical formats, and serve as the onsite administrator for the collections management system (Zetcom/eMuseum), including report generation.
• Set, maintain, and improve cataloging and vocabulary standards in line with museum best practices.
• Work with curatorial and education teams to keep collection information accurate, consistent, and aligned across print and digital materials.
• Care for the museum archives by maintaining accession, exhibition, and loan files and creating new files as needed.
• Organize and manage digital records on shared drives and oversee public access to the online collection portal (eMuseum+).
• Coordinate incoming and outgoing loans at local, national, and international levels, including shipping bids, vendor contracts, shipment tracking, expense monitoring, loan agreements, and condition reporting.
• Handle conservation coordination by corresponding with conservators, tracking records, and supporting loan and transit paperwork.
• Communicate regularly with Vanderbilt risk management regarding collection and loan insurance matters.
• Photograph artworks in the in-house studio, manage the digital image library, and support imaging needs for collections and exhibitions.
• Oversee photographic services, including rights and reproduction requests.
• Monitor collection-related facility needs such as environmental controls, pest management, security, and risk planning; review borrower facility reports and prepare climate and facility reports for loans.
• Design and implement processes for inventories and routine condition reporting.
• Plan short- and long-range storage strategies and coordinate moves, vendor support, and supply purchases.
• Establish and enforce standards for object handling, storage, movement, and overall collections care.
• Support policy development and help ensure compliance with copyright, IRS requirements, and AAM guidelines and standards.
• Coordinate accessioning, cataloging, and annual acquisition reporting, and support the deaccession process from proposal through disposal/transfer paperwork, shipping, and database/archive updates.
• Contribute to exhibition planning and public programming, including budget development.
• Take part in exhibition production, including handling, installation, de-installation, packing, unpacking, moving, and storage of artwork, and supervise art handlers during install and deinstall.
• Manage budgets and project funding related to collections care, conservation, and connected activities.
• Act as courier for artworks when needed and coordinate courier logistics for incoming loans, including shipment tracking, crate staging, visitor arrangements, courier packets, honoraria requests, and on-site support.
• Stay current with developments and standards in museum registration and collections care.
• Complete additional duties as assigned.

Supervisory Relationship

This role supervises student staff and interns and reports both administratively and functionally to the Director.

Education and Experience

A bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, Art History, Museum Studies, Art, or Library Science from an accredited institution is required. A master’s degree in Art History, Museum Studies, Library Science with graduate-level art history coursework, or a comparable field is preferred. The role requires 3–5 years of relevant experience, and prior experience with a major collections move is preferred.

Skills and Knowledge

The successful candidate should bring strong knowledge of collections management and museum registration practices, as well as museum standards for preserving and displaying artworks and historical objects. Comfort working across PC and Mac environments, strong command of Microsoft Office, Photoshop, and collections management platforms, and familiarity with image file formats, format conversion, and editing tools are required. The role also calls for solid written and interpersonal communication skills, along with the ability to work with donors, collectors, faculty, students, researchers, community members, and staff from varied backgrounds. A flexible schedule, including evenings and weekends, is required.

Physical Requirements

The job involves frequent standing, walking, bending, detailed hand work, extensive computer use, and lifting or moving items up to 50 pounds. It also requires the ability to climb a ladder.

Work Environment

The position is based in a standard office setting but also includes extended periods during museum installations. Work may involve moderate noise, vibration, electrical connections, outdoor weather exposure, chemicals associated with conservation and art production, and long periods of standing.

Additional Requirements

A valid driver’s license is required, or the candidate must be willing to obtain one.