Employment Opportunities for Students as Archival Assistants & Interpretive Guides at The Argyle Township Court House, Tusket, Nova Scotia - SUMMER POSITIONS
The Argyle Municipality Historical & Genealogical Society was incorporated in 1989, and was established in order to act as a support group for the Argyle Township Court House & Gaol at Tusket, N.S. This is Canada's oldest standing courthouse, built in 1805. The building was restored and opened to the public as a museum in 1982. It has been open every year since then, employing interpretive guides who provide guided tours of the building, and provide visitors with information on the building's history, and its place within the history of the community, the province and the nation. Guides also dispense a wide variety of other information pertaining to the history of this general area in Nova Scotia, and information on other tourist attractions.
In the rear of the courthouse is the Argyle Township Court House Archives. This is one of the few municipal archives in the province of Nova Scotia, and is responsible for the collection, appraisal, arrangement and description of the records generated by the Municipality of Argyle. The archives is also responsible for collecting any material in any media form (textual, photographic, sound recordings, maps, etc.) that pertains in any way to the history of the people, communities and institutions that make up the Municipality of Argyle. Our archives has become one of the premier centres for genealogical research in southwestern Nova Scotia. As such our institution is heavily used by researchers from New England during the summer months.
Each year our summer employees take on a wide variety of special projects as well as carrying out regular duties related to the daily operations of both the museum and the archives.
Our organization prides itself on providing excellent job training for all of our employees. Our facility is managed by a full-time employee who is a professional archivist and a Certified Genealogist, who supervises the work of all summer employees. All employees receive training in both archival and clerical work and learn valuable lessons relating to their own heritage. As interpretive guides they also develop good public relations skills and public speaking skills. Employees work on a wide variety of archival projects that leave products of lasting value in the community.
The following job description for "Archival Assistant/Interpretive Guide" outlines the general duties for the position, as well as some of the special projects that will be undertaken during the summer of 2002.
ARCHIVAL ASSISTANT/INTERPRETIVE GUIDE (BILINGUAL)
Job Description:
Museum component : To provide interpretive tours of the Argyle Township Court House and Gaol in French or English. To provide visitors with a variety of information relating to both the courthouse and the gaol [jail] during its years as a working courthouse. To provide visitors with information on the administration of justice and government at the local level from 1805-1945. To provide general historical information on this portion of Nova Scotia, and on other tourist sites in the area as required.To assist with the planning and execution of a variety of special events in the building, such as planned group visits, book launchings, historical society meetings, etc.
Archival component: To provide researchers with reference services and to assist them in locating materials within the archives. To assist with the accessioning and cataloguing of books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, etc. To compile indexes and other finding aids for a wide variety of material within the archives in order make materials more accessible to the public.
To learn and carry out a variety of duties relating to the preservation of archival documents, maps, photographs, etc. This will involve learning to encapsulate materials in mylar; the transfer of materials from acidic housing to acid free files folders, envelopes; repair of damaged items, etc.
To assist with the production of Society publications, such as our quarterly newsletter, pamphlets, books, etc.
To assist in answering genealogical and other research inquiries made by mail, phone and email.
VARIOUS SPECIAL PROJECTS ARE ALSO UNDERTAKEN EACH YEAR