Museum Curator/Director - Baraga County Historical Museum (11/15/26)

Posted on 11/2/26

Baraga County Historical Museum — Baraga County, Michigan

The Baraga County Historical Museum is seeking an experienced and community-minded Museum Curator/Director to lead the museum in preserving, interpreting, and sharing the rich cultural and industrial history of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Located on the shore of Lake Superior in Baraga County, the newly renovated, approximately 8,000-square-foot, single-level museum includes more than 6,000 square feet of exhibit space dedicated to the region's history. Exhibitions explore Indigenous copper-mining traditions, French and British Exploration, the fur trade, the lumber industry, and the domestic and cultural life of the communities that developed throughout northern Michigan.

The museum also offers a unique onsite living opportunity. An attached, fully furnished two-bedroom apartment provides a full kitchen, laundry facilities, and comfortable living quarters overlooking Lake Superior.

In addition, the Baraga County Historical Society maintains a partnership with Michigan Technological University involving the Historic Ford Reception Center and Sawmill at the Ford Center in Alberta, Michigan.

The successful candidate will have a strong interest in the diverse history of the region, including the experiences and contributions of the area's Indigenous peoples, early Jesuit missionaries and fur traders, and later Finnish, Italian, French, and other immigrant communities.

Position Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Establish and advance the museum's mission, vision, strategic priorities, and long-term plans.
• Develop initiatives that increase the museum's visibility, community engagement, educational impact, and financial sustainability.
• Work collaboratively with the Board of Directors to establish priorities and evaluate organizational progress.

Staff Management

• Recruit, supervise, evaluate, and develop museum volunteers and interns.
• Establish clear expectations and foster a collaborative, professional, and welcoming workplace.
• Coordinate staffing and volunteer activities to support museum operations and programming.

Financial Management

• Prepare and oversee annual operating budgets.
• Monitor revenues, expenditures, and financial performance.
• Ensure responsible stewardship of museum funds and resources.
• Work with the Board and appropriate financial professionals on financial planning and reporting.

Fundraising and Development

• Develop and maintain relationships with individual donors, foundations, corporations, governmental agencies, and community partners.
• Identify and pursue grant opportunities.
• Coordinate fundraising campaigns and donor-development efforts.
• Develop strategies for long-term financial sustainability.

Collections Management

• Oversee the proper care, preservation, documentation, cataloging, storage, acquisition, and responsible use of museum collections.
• Ensure collections policies and procedures reflect accepted museum standards and ethical practices.
• Work with appropriate specialists, conservators, historians, archaeologists, and other professionals when needed.

Exhibitions, Education, and Public Programs

• Oversee the development, installation, interpretation, and evaluation of exhibitions.
• Develop educational programs and activities for schools, families, visitors, and community organizations.
• Encourage programming that accurately and respectfully presents the diverse histories and cultures of the Upper Peninsula.
• Coordinate lectures, special events, tours, and other public programs.

Board Relations

• Serve as the principal staff representative to the Board of Directors.
• Provide regular reports regarding museum activities, finances, collections, programs, facilities, and strategic initiatives.
• Assist the Board in developing policies and long-term organizational goals.

Community Relations

• Serve as a visible representative and ambassador for the museum.
• Build relationships with schools, community organizations, governmental agencies, businesses, cultural institutions, and members of the public.
• Promote the museum as an important educational, cultural, and tourism resource for Baraga County and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Marketing and Public Relations

• Develop and implement strategies to promote museum exhibits, programs, events, and educational resources.
• Maintain positive relationships with local and regional media.
• Oversee appropriate website, social media, advertising, and other public communications.

Facilities and Safety

• Oversee museum facilities, grounds, security, maintenance, accessibility, and emergency preparedness.
• Develop and maintain appropriate safety, disaster-response, and collections-emergency procedures.
• Coordinate maintenance and capital-improvement needs with the Board and appropriate contractors or partners.

Legal and Ethical Compliance

• Ensure museum operations comply with applicable laws, regulations, professional standards, insurance requirements, and organizational policies.
• Promote ethical stewardship of collections and responsible interpretation of historical and cultural materials.
• Maintain appropriate documentation and institutional records.

Partnerships

• Develop and maintain relationships with museums, historical societies, universities, libraries, cultural organizations, tribal and Indigenous communities, governmental agencies, and other regional partners.
• Continue to strengthen the museum's partnership with Michigan Technological University and its relationship with the Historic Ford Reception Center and Sawmill.

Other Duties

• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Board of Directors.

Qualifications

Education

A bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in museum studies, history, art history, archaeology, anthropology, Indigenous studies, public administration, business administration, geology, or a related field is preferred.

Equivalent combinations of education, professional training, volunteer experience, internships, and practical museum or historical experience may be considered.

Museum and Historical Experience

• Several years of progressively responsible experience in a museum, historical society, cultural institution, archive, or related organization is preferred.
• Experience in collections, curatorial work, education, development, administration, or museum operations is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated interest in the history and cultural heritage of Michigan's Upper Peninsula is strongly preferred.

Leadership

• Demonstrated ability to supervise staff and volunteers.
• Experience working with a board of directors, trustees, or governing body.
• Ability to establish priorities, make sound decisions, manage multiple responsibilities, and lead organizational initiatives.

Financial and Development Skills

• Experience with budgeting and financial oversight.
• Demonstrated ability to participate in fundraising and donor relations.
• Experience with grant writing and grant administration is strongly preferred.
• Experience with facility or capital-project management is beneficial.

Collections and Museum Knowledge

• Knowledge of collections care, preservation, documentation, exhibitions, acquisitions, interpretation, and museum ethics.
• Familiarity with professional museum standards and best practices.
• Knowledge of regional archaeology, geology, Indigenous history, lumbering, mining, immigration, or social history is highly desirable.

Communication and Community Engagement

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to speak comfortably to visitors, community groups, schools, donors, government officials, and the media.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to represent the museum professionally and enthusiastically in the community.

Professional Involvement

Membership or active involvement in professional organizations such as the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), state or regional museum associations, historical organizations, or related professional groups is desirable.

Compensation and Benefits

• Annual salary: $ 30,000________
• Fully furnished, onsite two-bedroom apartment with full kitchen, laundry facilities, and living accommodations on the shore of Lake Superior
• Employer-subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance $5000 in a HSA
• Life and disability insurance
• 401(k) or 403(b) retirement plan (Matching up to $5000)
• Paid vacation and sick leave
• Professional-development funding
• Flexible or hybrid scheduling, when appropriate to museum operations
• Potential fundraising performance bonus

Why Baraga County?

This position offers an unusual opportunity to combine museum leadership, historical preservation, community engagement, and life in one of Michigan's most distinctive regions.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to help shape the future of a growing historical institution while living in a unique Lake Superior setting and working with collections and historic resources representing thousands of years of regional history.

To apply:
Please submit a résumé, cover letter describing your qualifications and interest in the position, and the names and contact information of three professional references to:

Baraga County Historical Museum / Historical Society
Paula McElroy, President BCHS
baragacountyhistory@gmail.com
810-516-8009

Application deadline: November 15, 2026

The Baraga County Historical Museum is an equal opportunity employer.