When Juggling's in the Job Description

The staff at the Sullivan Museum and History Center at Norwich University wear many hats. Since we are a staff of four people, it is a necessity. I am the Curator of Education and Public Programs, but my job is much more than teaching classes and scheduling programs. I am also the part-time oral historian, part-time assistant collections manager, and part-time staff writer, who also sometimes helps with exhibits and other tasks. Our Administrative Associate is also our editor, store manager, and work-study coordinator, as well as office manager. Our Curator of Exhibitions and Collections manages our collection and designs and implements our exhibitions not only at the museum but around campus. We both work as a team on social media for the museum and work with the university’s Communications Department to advertise for coming events. Our Director, aside from his duties as director, keeps the museum running smoothly and fills additional roles as needed. If one of us is out, he can often be found helping out with their jobs. He will soon be on family leave and our Curator of Exhibitions and Collections will step in as Interim Director until he returns.

We often look to others on our team to find a solution as we juggle and prioritize our duties. My role as educator comes first, followed by my role in public programming a close second. I assist with collections management when necessary and I conduct oral histories when the opportunity arises. Luckily, I have a Civic Scholar who helps with the editorial aspects of oral histories so the oral histories will be ready to be published online. I often write for the museum, which include short web articles, social media posts, labels, or advertisements. In addition, I am also writing a book of our oral histories. I assumed all of these responsibilities presented to me when I shifted from being the full-time Oral History Coordinator to Curator of Education and Public Programs. Simply put, my job description acknowledges the required juggling of various duties of my job; how I accomplish that is up to me.


Sullivan Museum & History Center

Before entering the museum field, I was a high school teacher and an oral historian. Both jobs required multitasking. When conducting oral histories, it is important to listen, take notes, formulate questions, and be attentive to the one speaking while operating a recording device. This really trains you to be a multitasker. When I became a teacher, multitasking took on a whole new meaning. Not only are you trying to teach, keep control of your class, and have eyes in the back of your head, but you are also thinking ahead for the next class. As a teacher, I taught six different subjects a day at a small private school. At larger schools a teacher rarely has more than two to three separate classes per day. If you have ever been a teacher, you’ll know that managing your time wisely is extremely important because you are busy nonstop. Not only did these two jobs teach me the basis of oral history and education which helps in my current position, but they also honed those multitasking skills.

When a museum has a small staff, everyone pitches in when needed. There are a multitude of things to do on any given day, so we have to prioritize, plan, and implement a solution to the never-ending duties. Weekly staff meetings make sure that we all know what others are working on, and informs us when we need to assist to get a job done. Our success is proof of great camaraderie with each other. We have to all get along, or the whole system falls apart.