Museum Director

The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums | City of Platteville seeks an inspirational and mission-driven leader to take the organization to its next iteration. Near-term goals include completing a capital campaign study, planning to prepare for comprehensive restoration of the historic museum campus, and leading a new generation of interpretation about our unique geologic region and 13,000 years of human ingenuity, inquiry, enterprise and development. The Museum will celebrate the 60^th year of its founding in 2024.

The Museum Director provides leadership in the strategic vision and management of The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums. Platteville region’s top tourist destination, the Museum is a dynamic organization whose place-based interpretation and education areas span the realms of natural history, cultural history, science and industry on a historic three-acre campus.

The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums is a department of the City of Platteville as well as a mission-driven entrepreneurial and membership organization located in the heart of the scenic Driftless Region and the Main Street business district of historic Platteville, Wisconsin. The City of Platteville offers competitive pay and generous benefits for full-time staff, training opportunities and culture of loyalty and pride. The City of Platteville is an equal opportunity employer. The starting salary is $74,922.

The museum campus includes scenic greenspace, pollinator gardens, a real underground mine from the pre-Civil War Lead Rush, a railroad amusement ride pulled by a 1931 mine locomotive, picturesque interpretive structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a heritage collection of 36,000 objects interpreting life in the region from the end of the last Ice Age through the Space Age. The Museum celebrates Wisconsin’s know-how and can-do spirit as expressed in the mining region where Wisconsin and its Badger State identity was born. Since its founding in 1965, the Museum has welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors, a third of them school children. The Museum is the largest tourist attraction in the tri-state area (Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa) interpreting the cultural heritage of the famous Upper Mississippi Valley mining district. It welcomes approximately 10,000 in-person and ticketed visitors annually and serves an additional 10,000 through online resources including virtual tours and exhibits.

The Director role includes development of strategic vision, business and fund development, site/facility master planning and maintenance, staffing, marketing, operations (including program development, collection stewardship, exhibit development, and visitor services), financial management, volunteer cultivation, and the fostering of relationships between the City of Platteville and two boards of directors — the City of Platteville Museum Board (with ordinance-defined responsibilities) and the Friends of The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization).

Mission

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.

Vision

The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums aspire to be the premier mining and regional history museum in the Upper Midwest and to instill an appreciation of the past and a sense of place for the future.

Funding Sources

The Museum is funded through a combination of City of Platteville Tax Levy Support; earned income through general admission, programs, and retail operations; grants; and philanthropic support generated through fundraising events, sponsorships, and donations.

• The City of Platteville Museum Department 2024 operating budget is $372,221 (of which $244,495 tax levy support).
• The Friends of The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums 2024 operating budget is $168,122.

Supporting Staff

In addition to the Museum Director, the team includes:

• a full-time Collections and Education Specialist;
• regular half-time specialists in Administration, Visitor Services, and Facilities Maintenance;
• a grant-funded part-time Collections Assistant;
• a part-time Communications Assistant; and part-time seasonal Tour Guides and Public Science/Public History Interns.
• 60+ volunteers who contribute 1,000+ hours annually.

Operations

Operations include offering General Admission, Guided Mine Tours & Train Rides during the months of May through October, plus a range of monthly special programs and events promoting lifelong learning that engage the historic underground mine, beautiful greenspaces, historic architecture, and heritage collections that are the cornerstones of the Museum’s assets. These include:

• School field trip group tours and youth programs such as Young Pioneers and BSA Merit Badge Workshops;
• Popular long-running programs like Heritage Day (42 years) and Historic Re-enactment (25 years);
• Other mission-driven programs like the Mine Day Bluegrass Music and Family STEAM Festival, Wisconsin Science Festival, Holiday Mine Sing, Holiday Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides, and the “Land, Place, and Life: A Driftless Walking Tour”;
• Adult programs including the Winter Lyceum and Friends of the Museums Annual Meeting & Program.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in History, Education, Business/Management, or related field, plus training in Museum Studies. (Required)
• Master’s degree in Museum Studies or related field. (Preferred)
• Related work experience of at least 3 years, including experience in fundraising, marketing and staff supervision. (required)

Application Instructions

Please submit a current resume, cover letter, and list of professional references to Human Resources Manager Chad Wilson, wilsonc@platteville.org or mailed to:

City of Platteville, Attn: Human Resources, PO Box 780, Platteville, WI 53818,

Application reviews will begin on December 21^st, 2023, with interviews tentatively set for January 5^th, 2024. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.