Museum Operations Assistant

The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums | City of Platteville are recruiting a Museum Operations Assistant to help oversee guest relations. Are you passionate about Driftless Area geography and local history and interested to share it? The Museums seek an Operations Assistant for the April-October 2020 season. We offer a part-time limited term employment schedule (20 hours per week in April and 30 hours per week May-October), a fun work environment, and a reciprocal agreement with dozens of regional attractions offering free or deeply discounted admission to museum employees and guests. If you are interested in learning more or applying, please contact Museum Director Erik Flesch at (608) 348-3301 or museumdirector@platteville.org.

Guides will be responsible to educate and delight visitors on adventures both underground and above ground on tours and programs, to supervise guide staff, and to see to the smooth running of the museum. The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums welcome more than 10,000 visitors per year to tour the underground 1845 Bevans Lead-Zinc Mine, to ride in a 1931 mine train, and to discover the local history of the Upper Mississippi Valley mining district through exhibits and galleries. The job will require working alternate weekends. The applicant must be able to successfully complete guide training and to pass a city-mandated background check.

The Museums trace the development of mineral mining in the Driftless Area using models, dioramas, artifacts and photographs. The guided museums tour includes a walk down 90 stairs into the Bevans Lead Mine, a tour of the headframe building and hoist house, and an above-ground outdoor train amusement ride pulled by a 1931 mine locomotive. The Rollo Jamison Collection exhibits include nostalgic artifacts, stories and music of home, farm, school and civic life in the region. The museum campus also includes the 1863 Rock School building, the brick 1905 Hanmer Robbins building that housed Platteville’s first dedicated high school, and beautiful green space for children’s play, festivals, and cultural programs.

The mission of The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums is to continue in the pursuit of excellence in the areas of regional and mining history. To achieve that purpose, the museums are commissioned to be a custodian of the past; to interpret the rich lead and zinc mining heritage of the region, as well as to preserve, interpret, and display the artifacts that define Southwest Wisconsin.

The salary is $15 per hour. This is a part-time, limited term employment position.