Executive Assistant to the President

Purpose: The Executive Assistant provides clerical and administrative support to the President, ensuring the Office of the President runs efficiently and with a high level of professionalism. This position also provides clerical and administrative support to the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Trustees, and other departments on an as-needed basis.

Reporting Relationships: This position reports to the President.

Supervisory Responsibility: None

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Provides hands-on coordination of all aspects of the President’s office to maximize efficiency and free up the President to focus on the Society’s priorities. Specific activities include but are not limited to:

• Maintaining the President’s calendar, meeting schedule, and relevant agendas
• Typing and disseminating correspondence and reports
• Screening telephone calls and handling as appropriate
• Making travel arrangements
• Submitting expense reports
• Maintaining accurate records, electronic and hard copy as appropriate
• Logging the President’s external relations actions into the donor database

Provides clerical and administrative support to the Chair of the Board of Trustees and the Trustees. Specific activities include but are not limited to:

• Scheduling Trustee, Overseer and Committee Meetings as needed
• Arranging all aspects of Trustee and Overseers Meetings including preparing agenda, collecting, compiling, and mailing meeting packets, tracking attendance, coordinating catering arrangements, etc.
• Taking and editing meeting minutes at Trustee, Overseer, Governance Committee Meetings
• Maintaining the overall annual Committee meeting calendar and member list
• Updating the Trustee and Overseer Handbook and maintaining the Trustees’ web page

Serves as the manager of the Fellows Committee. Specific activities include but are not limited to:

• Oversees the nomination, election, and notification process for MHS Fellows
• Implements the notification and renewal correspondence for MHS Fellows
• Manages the Fellows Committee Meetings, including scheduling and meeting minutes

Provides clerical and administrative support to other departments on an as needed basis including but not limited to:

• Plan bi-monthly All-Staff Meetings
• Assisting with special events sponsored by the Development department

KEY CONTACTS

External – Chair of the Board, Trustees, and Overseers, all contacts of the President
Internal – Managers and all employee

EDUCATION

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience

EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of 10 years’ experience as an assistant to the top executive, preferably in a nonprofit organization
• Experience working with a board of trustees or directors
• Demonstrated success working in a fast-paced office with a multi-faceted workload and frequently changing priorities

SKILLS

• Ability to represent the Office of the President with strong interpersonal skills and professionalism to diverse constituents, internally and externally
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong planning and organization skills with ability to prioritize, pivot, and multi-task
• High level of initiative and ability to anticipate the workflow needs of the President
• Ability to display good judgment with a high level of discretion and confidentiality
• Effective analytical and problem-solving skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and Google Suite
• Ability to learn and operate basic data entry within Raiser’s Edge donor database

Note: Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

To apply, please email cover letter and resume under the subject line “Executive Assistant to the President” to mnguyen@masshist.org. No phone calls please.

Associate Editor, Publications Department

The Massachusetts Historical Society seeks a full-time Associate Editor to work in its Publications Department. An independent research library and major repository of American manuscript materials, the Society was founded in 1791 to collect, preserve, and make available resources for the study of American history. The Associate Editor helps to fulfill the Society’s mission to communicate historical manuscripts and other materials that promote the study of the history of Massachusetts and the nation to a broad audience, in print and digital form. The Publications Department is responsible for production of the Society’s journal (Massachusetts Historical Review) and newsletter (MHS Miscellany) as well as print and digital book publications, including scholarly editions of archival documents. The Associate Editor contributes to the production and development of all titles; projects currently underway include an edition (digital) of a 17th-century Wampanoag vocabulary and an edition (printed) of the journal of 19th-century Boston reformer Caroline Healey Dall.

The Associate Editor will participate in all editorial and production tasks, including copyediting, verification, typesetting, proofreading, and communicating with vendors and authors. The Associate Editor will work closely with the Editor of Publications on project development and management, documentation of editorial standards, and coordination of the department’s responsibilities with the Society’s mission at large. The work requires an extreme attention to detail and a desire to collaborate with coworkers on work plans, problem-solving, and delivering the final product. Responsibilities may also include some supervision of interns/volunteers and assistance with inventory and distributor relationships. The successful candidate will be dedicated to producing work that meets the high standards set by the institution.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in related humanities field.
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience on a publishing team, including print production management and shepherding humanities text through the editorial process, shaping pieces for consistency and logic.
• Demonstrated commitment to maintaining the highest level of quality in the production of scholarly resources and achieving accessibility for a general audience.
• Experience with digital production tools (Adobe Creative Suite preferred).
• Ability to provide constructive feedback to peers and to communicate effectively with colleagues, editors, authors, and vendors.
• Effective planning and organizational skills with proven ability to analyze complex content, troubleshoot, and prioritize tasks.
• Excellent command of grammar and style.
• A knowledge of or sincere interest in Massachusetts or American history.
• Ability to read cursive. Job applicants invited for an interview will be asked to take a short test to evaluate their ability to edit for syntax and may also be asked to take a transcription test.

Pluses:

• Graduate degree in related humanities field or relevant professional degree.
• Background in academic or cultural institutions, with extra points for transcribing text from archival materials.
• Familiarity with XML and related languages.
• Experience with graphic/book design.

To apply, please email cover letter, résumé, and names of three references by February 1, 2019, to pubs_job[at]masshist [dot]org. Address materials to Ondine Le Blanc, Editor of Publications, Publications Department, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Editorial Assistant—Adams Papers and Publications Department

Description The Massachusetts Historical Society seeks a full-time Editorial Assistant to work with its Adams Papers and Publications departments. An independent research library and major repository of American manuscript materials, the Society was founded in 1791 to collect, preserve, and make available resources for the study of American history. Since 1954 the Adams Papers has published over fifty volumes of the diaries, letters, and other writings of the Adams family of Massachusetts; currently, we publish two letterpress series (Adams Family Correspondence and Papers of John Adams) and two digital editions (Adams Papers Digital Edition and John Quincy Adams Digital Diary Project). The Publications Department is responsible for production of the Society’s journal (Massachusetts Historical Review) and newsletter (MHS Miscellany) as well as print and digital book titles, including documentary editions of a Wampanoag vocabulary (a digital edition) and the journal of Caroline Dall (letterpress edition).

The Editorial Assistant contributes to the production and development of MHS publications by providing half-time editorial and administrative support to two departments. Editorial duties involve all aspects of production, including copyediting, typesetting, proofreading, fact checking, and communicating with vendors and authors. Administrative duties include assisting with grant reporting, file management, fielding reference questions, managing book and periodical back stock, and maintaining a subscription database. The successful candidate must be dedicated to producing work that meets the high standards set by the institution. The work requires an extreme attention to detail and a desire to collaborate with coworkers on work plans, problem-solving, and delivering the final product. This full-time position with benefits is a one-year grant-funded position, renewable subject to continued funding.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in American history or related field.
• Experience with editorial work, including strong copyediting skills, familiarity with style guides (Chicago preferred), and a strong grasp of rules of grammar and style.
• Willingness to learn new technologies for publishing and master new skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, editors, authors, and vendors.
  
  Job applicants invited for an interview will be asked to take a short test to evaluate their command of the rules of grammar and may also be asked to take a transcription test.

Pluses:

• Training or experience in a publishing office, including copyediting, production work, and/or graphic design or book design.
• Experience with desktop publishing software and Photoshop strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with HTML or other mark-up language.
• Experience working with archives or in a library or other cultural institution.
• A knowledge of or sincere interest in Massachusetts or American history.

To apply, please email cover letter, résumé, and names of three references to ap_job[at]masshist [dot]org. Address materials to Sara Martin, Editor in Chief, The Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Review of applications will begin immediately. Position to start February 2019, if possible.