Free Archivist Job Description Templates
Free archivist job description templates: general, digital, museum, senior, and assistant. With FLSA and archivist vs records manager guidance.
Archivist Job Description Templates
5 free templates for institutions, with FLSA and archivist vs records manager guidance. Download as DOCX.
Before you write an archivist job description, it is worth confirming you actually need an archivist. The title gets used loosely, and many organizations that post for one really need a records manager to handle active business records, or a one-time project to organize a collection. A true archivist appraises, preserves, and provides access to materials with lasting value, and the role is a credentialed, mostly institutional profession. Getting that distinction right before you post saves a mis-hire.
At FirstHR, we build hiring templates for the full range of roles, including the institutional ones. The five templates below cover the archivist by type: general, digital, museum and historical society, senior, and assistant, each handling the degree requirement and FLSA status honestly, and the guide to writing a job description covers the fundamentals.
What Is an Archivist?
An archivist appraises, organizes, preserves, and provides access to records and materials that have lasting historical, cultural, or legal value. The core work is appraising and accessioning incoming collections, arranging and describing them, creating finding aids so materials can be located, managing preservation, and supporting research access. Many archivists now also manage born-digital and digitized materials.
For the employer writing the posting, two things are useful to know up front. First, this is a credentialed profession: most professional archivist roles require a master's degree, and the work is concentrated in universities, government, museums, historical societies, and large corporations. Second, the role scales by type and setting, a digital archivist, a museum archivist, a senior archivist, and an assistant do meaningfully different work, which is why the templates below differ. One clarification that prevents a mis-hire: an archivist is not a records manager, who governs active business records, and not a librarian, who manages published materials.
Archivist Duties and Responsibilities
Archivist duties group into appraisal and accessioning, arrangement and description, preservation, and access and research. The type shifts the weights, born-digital workflows for a digital archivist versus exhibits and outreach for a museum archivist, but the categories hold.
A strong posting grounds these in your reality: the collection, its formats and scale, the description and metadata standards you follow, and your preservation and access setup. Archivists read postings for what they would be stewarding before applying. For a structured way to scope the role before posting, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
Archivist vs Records Manager: Which Do You Need?
This is the distinction that most often leads to a mis-hire, because the titles are used interchangeably but solve different problems. Settle it before you post.
| Archivist | Records Manager | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Permanent, historical materials | Active business records lifecycle |
| Goal | Preservation and research access | Retention, compliance, disposition |
| Degree | Usually master's required | Often no advanced degree required |
| Hire when | You steward a collection | You manage operational records |
If your need is preserving a historical collection or institutional memory and making it accessible, hire an archivist. If your need is governing day-to-day business records, retention schedules, and compliance, you likely want a records manager, a broader and often less credential-gated role. Some larger institutions employ both. Naming the right one in your posting aligns the qualifications, pay, and candidate pool from the start.
Which Template Should You Use?
Once you have confirmed you need an archivist, pick the template by type. The archival core runs through all five, but the type changes the duties, the degree expectation, and the likely FLSA status. Use this guide to choose.
5 Free Archivist Job Description Templates
Download all five as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: organization and collection overview, key responsibilities, qualifications with the degree requirement, the FLSA status with a confirm note, compensation, and how to apply, with the specifics left as fields. Fill in the brackets and post.
Template 1: Archivist (General)
The base version: appraising, arranging, describing, preserving, and providing access to collections. Start here if no specialized version fits the role you are hiring.
Template 2: Digital / Electronic Records Archivist
For managing born-digital and digitized materials: preservation workflows, repositories, metadata, and long-term access. Common in universities, corporations, and large institutions.
Template 3: Museum / Historical Society Archivist
For a museum, historical society, or small nonprofit hiring one archivist who wears several hats: processing, finding aids, research support, and outreach. Often part-time or hourly.
Template 4: Senior / Lead Archivist
Sets archival strategy and standards, leads complex projects, and supervises staff. Master's-level professional role with real discretion, more likely exempt. Confirm classification.
Template 5: Assistant Archivist / Technician
Supports processing, metadata, and access under an archivist. Entry or support level, often hourly and non-exempt. A path into the profession.
Is an Archivist Exempt from Overtime?
Whether an archivist is exempt from overtime depends on the actual duties and pay, not the title, and it varies by level. Assuming the role is automatically exempt because it is professional, or automatically non-exempt because it is hourly, both miss the test. Here is how the variants typically shake out.
The rule behind this is specific. The learned professional exemption applies when an employee's primary duty requires advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning, customarily acquired through a prolonged course of specialized instruction, which for archivists usually means a master's degree, and when the person is paid a salary at or above the threshold under the white-collar exemptions. A master's-level salaried archivist often qualifies; an hourly role, or one without the advanced-degree requirement, may not. Because the test turns on the specific duties and salary, and some states are stricter than the federal floor, confirm the classification rather than assuming it. This is general information, not legal advice.
Archivist Pay
Archivist pay varies by institution type, region, and seniority, so benchmark against comparable institutions rather than general office roles.
Place your role within that range: pay skews higher in government and large institutions and lower in small museums and historical societies, where hourly and part-time roles are common. A senior or lead archivist sits at the upper end, while assistant and technician roles sit well below. Market data shows wide variation by institution type, so benchmark against your peers and disclose a range where your state requires it. The templates leave compensation as a field so you can set it for your market.
Archivist Skills and Qualifications
Archivist qualifications combine professional credentials with detailed, methodical skills, so name them concretely rather than leaning on vague traits.
| Weak requirement | Strong requirement |
|---|---|
| Has a degree | Master's in library science, archival studies, or history |
| Organized | Knows archival arrangement and finding-aid standards |
| Detail-oriented | Careful handling and preservation practice |
| Tech comfortable | Metadata, repositories, and digital preservation |
| Researches well | Provides reference and research access to holdings |
The core is a candidate with the right credential for the level and genuine command of appraisal, description, and preservation. Name the degree, the standards, and the systems you use, and keep each line job-related, the SHRM job description tools describe a good job description as a plain-language summary of a position's tasks, duties, and responsibilities. Keep the posting neutral, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on protected characteristics.
How to Write an Archivist Job Description
A strong archivist posting starts before the wording, with confirming the role and setting the credential and classification correctly, then gives candidates the collection and scope they screen on. Here is the process the templates are built around. If this is among your first hires, the small business hiring guide covers the steps around the posting itself.
Hiring an Archivist for a Small Institution
A large university or government archive hires through a dedicated HR team and a defined civil-service or academic process. A small museum, historical society, or nonprofit making its first archivist hire, often a single part-time or contract role, has none of that, and the same classification and paperwork rules apply anyway. Here is how to approach the posting and the hire for that reality.
After You Hire: Onboarding an Archivist
The job description is step one, and an archivist hire comes with a documentation-heavy start that suits a system, especially around sensitive or restricted holdings. Send the offer, collect the signed offer and any confidentiality acknowledgments, and complete Form I-9 and the rest of the new hire paperwork and tax forms, plus copies of credentials and certifications for your records.
Then orient the archivist to your specific environment: the collection and its history, your collection-management and preservation systems, your description and metadata standards, and your access and reproduction policies, the kind of structured start that good onboarding is built on. For a smaller institution without an HR department, a repeatable process matters, and once your offer is ready the offer letter template handles the core terms. FirstHR connects the offer with e-signature, runs the onboarding workflow, completes the new-hire paperwork, and stores credentials and signed policies in document management, built for organizations without an HR team. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an archivist do?
An archivist appraises, organizes, preserves, and provides access to records and materials that have lasting historical, cultural, or legal value. The core work is appraising and accessioning incoming collections, arranging and describing them, creating finding aids and metadata so materials can be located, managing preservation and storage conditions, and supporting research access. Increasingly, archivists also handle born-digital and digitized materials, building digital preservation workflows and managing repositories. The work happens mostly in universities, government agencies, museums, historical societies, and large corporations that maintain significant collections. An archivist is distinct from a records manager, who oversees the lifecycle of active business records and compliance, and from a librarian, who manages published materials for general use. The archivist's focus is the long-term stewardship of unique, permanent materials.
What is the difference between an archivist and a records manager?
An archivist preserves records with enduring historical or cultural value and makes them accessible for research, while a records manager oversees the lifecycle of an organization's active business records, including retention schedules, compliance, storage, and disposition. The distinction matters because the two roles require different skills, credentials, and pay. An archivist typically needs a master's degree in library science, archival studies, or a related field and focuses on appraisal, preservation, and access. A records manager focuses on operational records governance and often does not require that advanced degree. Many organizations confuse the two and hire the wrong one. If your need is stewarding a historical collection or institutional memory, hire an archivist. If your need is managing day-to-day business records, retention, and compliance, you likely want a records manager instead. Decide which problem you are solving before you write the posting.
Is an archivist exempt or non-exempt from overtime?
It depends on the actual duties and pay, not the title. An archivist often qualifies for the learned professional exemption, because the role typically requires advanced knowledge in a field of learning customarily acquired through a master's degree, and when the person is also paid a salary at or above the federal threshold, the exemption can apply. Many university and institutional archivist roles are classified exempt on this basis. However, the exemption is not automatic. An archivist paid hourly, or a role that does not require the advanced specialized degree the exemption depends on, can be non-exempt and owed overtime. Real museum and historical-society postings show hourly archivist roles classified as non-exempt. Assistant archivist and technician roles, which focus on processing and handling under direction, are also frequently non-exempt. Because classification turns on the specific duties and salary, confirm it for your role rather than assuming. This is general information, not legal advice.
What degree does an archivist need?
Most professional archivist roles require a master's degree, commonly in library science, archival studies, history, or a related field. The federal occupational data lists a master's degree as the typical entry-level education for archivists, which reflects how the profession is structured around advanced, specialized training in appraisal, preservation, and description. Some roles accept equivalent experience, and assistant or technician positions may require only a bachelor's degree or relevant coursework, but the full professional archivist role is generally a graduate-credentialed position. This degree requirement shapes the candidate pool and the pay, and it is also part of why many archivist roles qualify for the learned professional overtime exemption. When you write the posting, state the degree requirement honestly for the level you are hiring, since requiring a master's for an assistant role or omitting it for a senior one will misalign your applicants.
How much does an archivist make?
Archivist pay varies by institution type, region, and seniority. The federal benchmark for the broader occupational group of archivists, curators, and museum workers is a median annual wage of $57,100 in May 2024, with the lowest 10 percent under $34,840 and the highest 10 percent over $98,490; archivists specifically tend to fall around and somewhat above that group median. Pay skews higher in government and large institutions and lower in small museums and historical societies, where hourly and part-time roles are common. A senior or lead archivist with supervisory responsibility sits at the upper end, while assistant and technician roles sit well below. Benchmark against comparable institutions of your type and size rather than against general office roles, and disclose a range in the posting where your state requires it.
What should an archivist job description include?
A strong archivist job description includes an organization and collection overview, the archival duties, the qualifications including the degree requirement, the FLSA status, and the compensation. List the real duties: appraisal and accessioning, arrangement and description, finding aids and metadata, preservation, and research access, plus digital preservation where relevant. State the degree requirement honestly for the level, since most professional roles need a master's while support roles may not. Handle the FLSA status carefully, since archivist classification depends on the duties and salary rather than the title. Describe the institution and collection, because archivists choose roles based on what they would be stewarding. Match the template to the role, since a digital archivist, a museum archivist, a senior archivist, and an assistant differ meaningfully. Keep the language neutral and job-related.
Do small organizations hire archivists?
Sometimes, but it is less common than at large institutions, and the arrangement is often different. Most full-time archivist roles are at universities, government agencies, museums, and large corporations with significant collections. Smaller museums, historical societies, and nonprofits do hire archivists, but frequently as a single hands-on, wears-several-hats role, and often part-time or on a contract basis rather than full-time. Many small businesses that think they need an archivist actually need a records manager to handle active business records and compliance, or a one-time consulting engagement to organize a collection, rather than a permanent archivist hire. If you are a small organization, decide honestly whether you need ongoing archival stewardship, operational records management, or a project-based engagement, since that choice changes who you hire and how. The museum and assistant templates on this page fit the smaller-institution case.
What happens after I hire an archivist?
Send the offer, get it signed, complete the paperwork, and onboard with the collection and systems in mind. Start with the offer letter and e-signature, then the standard new-hire paperwork: Form I-9, tax forms, and your handbook and any confidentiality terms, which matter when an archivist handles sensitive or restricted holdings. Then orient the archivist to your specific environment: the collection and its history, your collection-management and preservation systems, your description and metadata standards, your access and reproduction policies, and the storage and environmental setup. For a smaller institution without an HR department, a repeatable onboarding process saves real time and ensures nothing is missed. FirstHR handles the people side: the offer with e-signature, the new-hire paperwork, an onboarding workflow, and document management for credentials, certifications, and signed policies, built for organizations without an HR team. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.