Fall Malacology Volunteership at the American Museum of Natural History – Museum Studies

Job Title: Fall Malacology Volunteership

Location: New York, NY

Deadline: 10/16/24

Note: Please see the attached note from friend of the program, Laura:

Dear Rosanna,
I hope you are doing well and enjoying your new students. I follow the program in Instagram, and it was nice to see Elizabeth Rodríguez Estrada graduate in May.
We will be offering another paid internship in January so please let me know when I need to send you the internship description.
I’m also currently looking for 2 volunteers who can work with me until December. I appreciate it if you know about some students who might be interested in these three opportunities.

Thanks, Laura

Fall Malacology volunteership
Start day: asap – End day: December 16 th week with the opportunity to long-term
Requirements: On-site, flexible hours (open to discuss your availability)
Deadline: October 11, 2024

The AMNH Malacology collection is a global collection of mollusks established in 1874, with particular emphasis on North America and the Eastern Pacific. Mollusks are an animal group consisting of slugs, snails, squids, octopuses, scallops, cockles, whelks, and limpets within 8 classes, Polyplacophora, Monoplacophora, Gastropoda, Cephalopoda, Bivalvia, and Scaphopoda. Most mollusks are marine, but these animals also occupy freshwater and terrestrial habitats. Currently the Malacology collection at AMNH contains approximately 500,000 lots with representatives of 406 families.

The Malacology Collection has an interdisciplinary team, which currently includes Dr. Jessica Goodheart, Assistant Curator of Malacology, and Laura Rincón Rodriguez, Museum Specialist for Malacology. Our diversity in expertise, cultural backgrounds, languages, and personal experiences are integral aspects of our team. We see biological collections as dynamic and active hubs that can better serve the needs of their audiences and the mission of the AMNH.

We eagerly anticipate continued collaboration with the scientific and natural history collections communities, graduate students and the public to ensure that the collections remain available and preserved for generations to come.

As part of our care of the Malacology collections, we have projects that we would like a volunteer to assist on. This is our priority list, in order of priority:
Collections care tasks such as moving specimens due to floor repairs and removing
wood drawers from collection spaces.
Families inventory of the dry collection
Make a list of the lost specimens in the wet collection.
Identify and track the possible sources of undocumented specimens or other sources that can help to connect to their documentation.

We are looking for volunteers who are proactive, effective communicators, detail-oriented, and open to exchanging knowledge and experiences. You do not need a background in natural sciences. We are seeking someone with basic knowledge of collections or very interested in getting hands-on experience.

How to Apply:

We are looking forward to hearing from you! If you are interested in this opportunity, please email me to: lrincon-rodriguez@amnh.org