Position Title: History Educator

Reports To: Director of Education

Classification: FLSA Exempt, Full Time

Salary Range: $37,00,000 - $42,000

Date: October 2024

The Coastal Discovery Museum is hiring a History Educator to focus on telling the disparate narratives of people who have inhabited Hilton Head Island and the Lowcountry through community-based explorations, archival research, and archaeology. These stories include those of Native Americans, the Spanish who explored and settled the Port Royal Sound in the 16th century, and enslaved African people who were brought here against their will and toiled here, specifically at our Honey Horn property, for generations before experiencing freedom at Mitchelville, the first self-governing town of formerly enslaved people in the US. This museum professional will develop educational programs and curricula to identify multi-vocal narratives and work to engage the community, teachers, and other visitors around these important historical stories and their relevance to understanding our community today.

The Museum

The Coastal Discovery Museum was established in 1985 and has a broad mission to inspire people to care for the Lowcountry. We want to make a difference for our community by inspiring our visitors to take action, be better stewards of the environment, cherish and preserve our historical resources, and be active in the arts. The museum believes that our Lowcountry stories are so compelling that they will also begin to make a difference in how people think about these issues at the national level.

The museum is now located on 68 acres of protected land, and our historic buildings, nature trails, marsh front docks, gardens, fields, horse stable and pasture are an integral part of our programming.  Annually, we also host 6-8 exhibitions in the Discovery House and an art market with 90+ regional artists. We offer over 30 programs per week, including a year-round farmers market. Since opening at our Honey Horn location in 2007, the museum has welcomed over 1.52 million visitors.

The museum has taken over the Santa Elena Foundation and is developing a new permanent exhibition on the Santa Elena settlement and the impact that this colonization had on native populations. The museum has also started to work with the Gullah community and archaeologists from the University of South Carolina to investigate the enslaved communities’ cabins on our property and start to interpret this story to the public.

The Role

The History Educator will be responsible for developing and implementing history education programs based on these diverse narratives.  The museum currently provides about 10,000 student experiences per year. The majority of these are focused on nature and the environment, and the History Educator will significantly expand our focus on educational programming within their area of expertise.  Many of these diverse stories, particularly surrounding Santa Elena, are included in SC 4^th and 8^th grade history textbooks for the first time, and there is an opportunity to better partner with the schools. We strongly believe that through an accurate and comprehensive interpretation of what has happened here we can help educate all SC school students about our complex history and how it has shaped the world we live in today.  Part of this will be through onsite programs, part will come when we install our new core history exhibitions and part will be provided through online resources for teachers.

Major duties and responsibilities:

• Work with community members, historians, archaeologists, and professional contacts to develop a broad understanding of our diverse history and how it has shaped our community.
• Develop curricula that tie to 4^th and 8^th grade standards and explore options for developing content for other grade levels and national audiences.
• Present cultural history programming to students, teachers, and the general public.
• Organize and implement professional development opportunities for area teachers.

• Provide input and insight into our exhibition program.

• Help organize speakers for a lecture series.

Education, Experience, and Desired Qualifications

• Education: Candidates should have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience. The museum considers subject matter knowledge from oral traditions, and experience or desire to share this knowledge equivalent to a university degree. An advanced degree in archaeology, anthropology, or history may qualify the candidate for a higher salary.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, and an ability to communicate complex ideas to school age children.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; individual must be personable and diplomatic in working with diverse constituency and staff.
• Self-sufficient in routine office administration tasks, including finalizing correspondence, maintaining calendar appointments, preparing presentations, etc.
• Able to effectively represent the Museum at public events.
• Must be suited for a fast-paced, high-energy work environment and have strong organizational skills, including a strong attention to detail and accuracy.

To Apply

• Please send an application letter and resume to dbrut@coastaldiscovery.org with “History Educator” in the subject line.  Finalists will be contacted and asked to submit three references.

REPORTS TO:  Director of Education

LOCATION:  Hilton Head Island, SC

WORK SCHEDULE: 40 Hours per week, in-person

POSITION TYPE:  Full-time, FLSA Exempt.

https://www.coastaldiscovery.org/careers/