Postdoctoral Associate, Material Histories of the Human Record

Description

The certificate program in Material Histories of the Human Record of the Humanities Program at Yale invites applications for a Postdoctoral Associate position at Yale University for the 2025-2026 academic year. Candidates must have research, teaching, or curatorial experience relevant to the histories of the book, archival studies, collections-based learning, publication; or cultural heritage stewardship, provenance, book arts, or other relevant field expertise. This is an initial one-year appointment that is renewable for a second year; the start date will be determined in consultation with the selected candidate.

 

This unique opportunity situates the successful candidate within a relevant academic department at Yale and the Yale Library Special Collections. The Postdoctoral Associate will support the Beinecke Library Education program for 15-20 hours per week (the equivalent of one course per semester), work to develop the initiatives associated with the Material Histories certificate in conjunction with the co-directors, and pursue their own research.

 

The Material Histories certificate program is designed to expose students to multiple forms of expertise within Yale’s special collections libraries, equip emerging scholars with new analytical skills, and teach them the methodologies that scholars, librarians, archivists, conservators, and curators employ as they preserve, interrogate, and steward the human record. This inaugural postdoctoral position is envisioned as a dynamic bridge between the world of libraries, archives, and special collections, and their engagements by faculty, students, artists, and researchers who are located in other parts of the university. The Postdoctoral Associate must be committed to facilitating these engagements in Yale University’s special collections by the broadest possible group of researchers and support work that utilizes traditional methods of archival and bibliographic research alongside creative, interdisciplinary, and non-traditional approaches to conducting research in the collections.

 

The Postdoctoral Associate will:

 

-        support all aspects of the ongoing certificate program

-        serve as a resource for graduate and undergraduate students within the program

-        oversee publicity, outreach, and communications with the help of an undergraduate student worker

-        work to develop programming that engages and creates a sense of community for those involved with the certificate program

-        help plan a robust undergraduate certificate curriculum

-        develop new initiatives to support the strategic direction, long-term goals, and objectives of the certificate program, including identifying partnerships and collaborations to assist in the development and growth of the program

-        contribute to the development and assist in the management of content on the program’s website and monitors all changes and additions to the editorial content

 

The successful candidate will be intellectually wide-ranging and curious, open to imagining creative solutions and futures for the development of the certificate, have superb analytical, creative, and communication skills in both writing and public speaking, and be an excellent collaborator with the ability to foster collegiality and impart empathy, humility, and a positive outlook in their work. Experience working in an archive, library, museum, or other cultural heritage institution is desirable but not required. This position reports to the co-directors of the Material Histories of the Human Record certificate.

 

The Postdoctoral Associate is expected to be in residence in New Haven, Connecticut, for the full duration of the appointment and take an active part in the intellectual exchange with other members of the Material Histories and Yale Library Special Collections communities at Yale. Compensation is competitive and includes benefits and health insurance.

Qualifications

All applicants must have completed their PhD by the time of appointment. Graduate students who are working on their PhDs may apply, but must present proof of having completed and filed their dissertations, even if awaiting formal conferral of the PhD degree. Fluency in English is required, as reading knowledge of at least one