Curatorial Assistant

Application Deadline: February 6, 2026 Purpose of the Role The Curatorial Assistant is a key member of the Obama Presidential Center Museum’s Curatorial Team. Reporting to the Curatorial Senior Associate, you will support research and administrative needs for the Curatorial Team, focused primarily on the Museum’s core exhibits, special exhibits, activations, and related projects. You will perform historical, artifact, and image research to support high-priority curatorial activities, ensuring that the Curatorial Team is provided with substantive and reliable information to meet project deadlines and to inform interpretive activities and products. You will be responsible for providing exceptional support to curatorial projects and collaborations with other teams, ensuring members have access to complete, accurate, and up-to-date information to support their work and meet project objectives, and you will serve as the initial point of contact for the Curatorial Team. This role is hybrid, located at the Obama Presidential Center Museum in Chicago. The Curatorial Assistant is expected to be on-site at the Museum a minimum of 3 days a week. Core Job Responsibilities Curatorial Research and Production

• Conduct research related to potential artifact donations, acquisitions, and archival materials, ensuring the Curatorial Team has the information needed to make key decisions within specified timeframes.
• Assist in the development, copyediting, design, and production of exhibition didactic materials, such as wall text, labels, and other exhibition content as needed.
• Support the Curatorial Team’s review and oversight of object installation.

Assist with the preparation and coordination of acquisitions proposals, presentation materials, and catalog records. Database Maintenance

• Research and edit artifact records in the Museum’s database.
• Work with other Curatorial Team members to maintain accurate exhibition object lists.
• Assist in the categorization, routing, and tracking of donation offers, purchases, and loans to ensure all are placed in the assessment queue for consideration.

Administration and Project Coordination

• Manage administrative and project coordination needs for the Curatorial Team, including scheduling meetings, taking meeting notes, tracking team tasks, preparing reports and presentation materials, managing and organizing files in Google Drive, and supporting other logistical needs.
• Serve as the initial point of contact for the Curatorial Team, managing contacts and handling inquiries (mail, telephone, email) about the collection, exhibitions, and donating objects to the Museum.
• Coordinate and assist in facilitating object donor visits at the Museum.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Key Deliverables / Outcomes

• Research assignments are prioritized and completed in a timely manner to ensure the Curatorial Team has access to accurate and well-organized information to facilitate their work on exhibitions development, collections development, publications, programs, outreach initiatives, and other priority activities.
• All presentations and other materials are designed and edited to Obama Foundation standards, have been reviewed and approved by the necessary parties, and are produced and delivered within specified timeframes and with a high attention to detail.
• Artifact and image databases are maintained with reliable, consistent, and up-to-date information conforming to established data entry protocols; data is shared and transferred according to established workflows.
• All assigned projects and tasks are completed on time and with high attention to detail.
• Ability to juggle thinking broadly and innovatively about the Obama Foundation’s mission, while also independently managing a wide range of administrative responsibilities.

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