Public Historian & Casco History Lab Manager

Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment is seeking a Public Historian & Casco History Lab Manager in Freeport, ME. This role involves developing the Casco History Lab, fostering collaborations among researchers and the public, and conducting historical research. The position is grant-funded for three years with potential renewal. The candidate will work closely with program leaders to create educational programs based on research findings.
About Wolfe's Neck Center

Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment is a fast-growing, national nonprofit organization based on a campus of over 600 acres of coastal farmland in Freeport, Maine. Our work is dedicated to creating a world where agriculture and food systems support farmer viability, thriving ecosystems, and vibrant communities. Through regenerative farming demonstration and training, innovative research, and collaborations, Wolfe's Neck Center works to advance agriculture - on our own farm, regionally, and nationally - to accelerate holistic change in food systems and mitigate the effects of a changing climate.

About the Casco History Lab

The newly formed Casco History Lab at Wolfe's Neck Center will connect the rich natural and historical resources and historic and contemporary built environment encompassed in the largely undisturbed cultural landscapes of Wolfe's Neck Center's campus and its Harraseeket River environs. The History Lab will be housed in a 1750s saltbox-style house on the National Register of Historic Places that has been continuously part of a working farm since the 18th century. The farm fields that surround it and the ocean view beyond are largely unchanged since an international sea captain and farmer called it home in the 1790s. The site of his tide mill is below; remnants of wharf sites also remain. An adjacent 19th century repurposed barn houses Wolfe's Neck Center's dairy cows today. An 1890 grand post-and-beam barn nearby offers potential program space. The farm's landscape, largely undisturbed by modern development, and its historic structures hold centuries, even millennia, of the history of the place we now call Maine.

Position Summary

WNC is searching for a passionate public historian to develop and direct the newly formed Casco History Lab. The Public Historian & Casco History Lab Manager will foster collaborations between researchers, educators, scholars, students, and the public. Reporting to the Managing Director of Programs and participating on the Program Leadership team, this role will be a member of the Research and Demonstration team and will work collaboratively with Wolfe's Neck Center's program leaders across its four areas of work: Visitor Education and Experience, Research and Demonstration, Farmer Education and Market Development, and Technology and Innovation. This is a three-year grant-funded position with potential for renewal after the third year.

Responsibilities:
• Collaborate & Connect: Connect the History Lab to people who can use the site for first-hand research, including archaeological digs. Proactively seek out, make, and maintain personal connections between collaborators and the opportunities available to them, with a special effort toward encouraging interdisciplinary research and study.
• Research: Become deeply familiar with the historical and natural resources of the local area. Conduct research into lesser-known aspects of the history of the place. Stay curious and continue learning as the role and the History Lab grows.
• Support Program Creation: Based on research done through the History Lab, work with the Visitor Education and Experience (VEE) Team to actively orchestrate and facilitate the creation of public programming for the Casco History Lab at Wolfe's Neck Center, in partnership with the Freeport Historical Society, colleges and universities, and other external collaborators. Work with the VEE Team to evaluate needs for elementary and secondary school curricula that integrates history of the Harraseeket region and includes place-based, experiential components.
• Tell the Stories: Working in partnership with the Advancement team, the Public Historian & Casco History Lab Manager will be the primary spokesperson for the History Lab, making effective personal and institutional connections with collaborators and potential funders, and creating opportunities for public presentations and programs.
• Administrate: Work with the Managing Director of Programs and Managing Director of Finance and Operations to oversee the budget and related expenditures of the Lab.
• Secure Revenue: Work with the Managing Director of Advancement to generate a mixed revenue stream, including grant funding, private philanthropy and program income. The Public Historian & Casco History Lab Manager will be responsible for generating ideas and content for grant applications and support the Wolfe's Neck Center Advancement team in the submission of applications and requests for support.
• Staffing: Provide input on staffing needs and future plans.

Other requirements:
• This position is located on-site in Freeport, Maine, with the option to structure as a hybrid position, requiring regular, mutually agreed upon time spent on-site at our oceanfront farm and campus.

Qualifications:
• 5-7 years of experience preferred in the field of Public History, Public Humanities, or Cultural Resource Management.
• Master's degree preferred in History, the Humanities, Archeology or a field otherwise related to the purposes of this initiative.
• A passionate, creative, proactive person able to thrive in an innovative, start-up environment within a thriving organization.
• A self-starter who also enjoys being part of a dynamic and collaborative team.
• Demonstrated leadership, visioning, and management skills.
• Ability to leverage connections across multiple groups of stakeholders while demonstrating sensitivity to diverse cultural histories and heritage.
• A proven track record in community engagement.
• Outstanding communication skills, both spoken and written.
• Demonstrated experience in public programming and outreach.
• Experience explaining or teaching "hard history" to varied audiences and a familiarity with humanities-based education and public programming and the institutions that fund it.
• Demonstrated experience in the development of grant and revenue opportunities for a non-profit organization that will enable and enhance collaborative fundraising approaches with Wolfe's Neck Center's Managing Director of Development.
• Comfortable with academic as well as public history approaches and methodology.

As a full-time employee of Wolfe’s Neck Center, this position is eligible for benefits including health insurance, dental insurance, three weeks paid vacation and six sick days, Maine state holidays off, and our retirement savings plan. Compensation commensurate with experience: $65,000-$75,000

Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment welcomes a diverse pool of candidates. In accordance with federal Equal Opportunity laws, Wolfe's Neck Center does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, sexual orientation including gender identity or expression, veteran status, or physical or mental disability in the hiring of its employees. Applicants are selected based on their ability to perform the essential functions of the job, prior work experience, and references from previous employers.