Sydney Epstein
Denver
Summary
Museum professional with the goal of collaborating with institutions that highlight the importance of integrative history and community engagement. Passions in the field include collections management, preservation, exhibit curation, education, and guest services. Has worked hands-on with large-scale collections, including but not limited to bulk field samples, artifacts, archives, and accession/deaccession work. Has had various opportunities to experience the multi-level functions of a museum; from initiating research and exhibition creation, all the way to the direct impact on patrons through museum education and the daily application of museum grounding virtues.
Works successfully both independently and in tandem with multi-departmental museum teams. Has headed projects that contributed to current and future exhibits, museum databases, public-facing research, and physical archives. Highly detail-oriented, a fast learner, enjoys working with other people as well as for other people, enthusiastic, organized, and appreciates challenges.
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
Work History
Guest Services & Collections Specialist
History Colorado
09.2024 - Current
- Dual position at a community museum of History Colorado, The Center for Colorado Women's History (CCWH), with both a guest services and collections management focus
- Supported daily museum operations by leading and scheduling tours of all sizes and ages, providing historical information in an accessible and engaging manner, and ensuring a welcoming environment for all guests
- Facilitated seasonal events ranging between 20 to 200 guests and ensuring the logistical support of staff, volunteers and facilities preparation (Ex. educational women's history focused nighttime events, community engagement talks, tea seatings, local holidays, and museum free days)
- Ensured proper tracking of museum engagement through consistent guest services protocols, including providing museum offerings at the front desk, collecting admission fees, selling merchandise, overseeing gift shop inventory, and answering phone calls or reiterating messages to the appropriate parties
- Skilled in proper money-handling techniques and Point of Sale systems (Shopify and Report Pundit), both of which were utilized to complete daily opening and closing register counts and monthly accounting cash transmittals and reports
- Determined the most effective methods for training, scheduling, and evaluating work of volunteers to best support their individual needs as well as provide the most supportive guest engagement
- Directly supervised 2 weekend interns throughout their terms by providing appropriate training modules, research support, professional growth through museum projects, and logistical responsibility
- Assisted in the creation of a new, automated ticketing spreadsheet to optimize ticket tracking while ensuring specified guest needs and day-of event organization
- Accumulated 4 years of experience using the Collections Management System Argus with full editing access and responsibility to keep CCWH artifact records up to date between internal museum changes and large artifact moves
- Collaborated with Curatorial Services and Collections Access staff (CSCA) to address community museum collections needs in accordance with best practice standards, and created a quarterly artifact rotation schedule to support
- Acted as the liaison between CSCA and CCWH to promote yearly exhibit development, exhibit project coordination, use of artifacts in the History Colorado Collection, exhibit maintenance, and implement collections processes
- Trained over 10 interns, AmeriCorps service members, and contractors on best practices in artifact handling, collections preservation and maintenance, and gallery upkeep, then assigning pertinent personnel to specific collections care tasks
- Integrated continuous Internal Pest Management (IPM) to weekly gallery maintenance at CCWH
- Planned and executed collections projects including database entry, inventories, conservation, collection rotations, storage and retrieval, artifact movement between sites, and exhibit development research
- Advanced the museum's ability to feature both large and small rotational exhibits for the first time by creating artifact lists for display, determining how to best present collection items, conducting museum interpretation research, writing panel copy, and overseeing artifact loans between CCWH and other partners
Museum Educator
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
05.2022 - Current
- Taught, supervised, and organized schedules for groups of 140 students (grades K-6) and a team of directors on a weekly basis with logistical, educational, and child-care aide
- Always on-call during the workday to jump into action to aid teachers with educational, building management, scheduling, and childcare assistance
- Led science classes grades 4-6, combining own love for science and education with the excitement of facilitating a passion for museums in the next generation
- Cultivated mastery of both direct interaction with museum guests (including but not limited to school groups, parents, summer camp students, and general public visitors) as well as behind the scenes work for education programs
- Created class schedules, organized museum tours and talks for students, bolstered spreadsheets for sensitive student-related data, and edited 10 different scientific curriculums that are clear, inclusive, and engaging, while being applicable for varying ages
- Facilitated activities for overnight holiday events yearly, interacting with guests of all ages and needs
- Consistent inventory of materials for office, classroom, and education collection needs, dictating lists of how much of each material needed and by when
- Collaborated with a large museum team, including a rotation of co-teachers, and learned to adapt own teaching style to all situations
- Utilized education collections based on various curriculums and monitored condition of items between storage and use
Museum Collections & Registration Assistant
History Colorado
01.2023 - 09.2024
- Processed, inventoried, and cataloged over 6,500 photos and multitude of artifacts, including archival material, for The John Fielder Collection to be used for public access, digital databases, and exhibits
- Meticulously created detailed spreadsheets dictating and organizing 50,000+ glass plate negatives, then reorganized and rehoused the plates to archival standards
- Researched and rehoused artifacts from 1880s-present, cross-referencing with Collections Management System (Argus) to problem-solve numbering, location, condition, and provenance issues
- Physically numbered, categorized, and condition reported artifacts (including over 800 film reels and 3,000 historical household items) for future research or possible deaccessioning
- Highly comfortable editing large amounts of data independently and proficiently, cleaning up the database to match
- Collaborated with Collections Managers and Registrars to process items and assist with new loans/donations
- Excelled in collections care; including soft packing large and small items, making museum-quality boxes and mounts, pest identification, and getting creative in limited storage space during rehousing processes
- Assisted in installation of 2 permanent exhibits at the museum, varying in duties from mount creation and painting to inventory of exhibit photographs and artifacts
- Assessed various items after being taken off exhibit, ensuring accurate artifact information and re-housing locations
Museum Collections Intern
History Colorado
09.2022 - 12.2022
- Operated in two separate internships during this time, both based in collections inventory, survey, rehousing, and digital cataloging
- Reorganized, condition reported, and made custom mounts for 800 historical ribbons and badges, moving in-between collections storage and registration offices
- Inventoried, photographed, and rehoused 7,000+ artifacts in off-site warehouse, paying close attention to database discrepancies and issues in previous object preservation in order to make collection more accessible
- Seasoned in operating online cataloging database (Argus), including uploading professional photos taken by me and technical metadata
- Thorough yet timely in descriptions of artifacts handled, including navigating preferred lexicon terms and utilizing research from both physical and digital accession files
- Exceeded in maneuvering physical collections during inventory and rehousing; ensuring accurate and safe preservation
Museum Collections Assistant
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at UC Berkeley
08.2019 - 08.2020
- Apprentice of the head of North American collections at the museum, personally oversaw items from the Colorado and Southwest collections
- Accelerated at operating within a museum database by thoroughly investigating never before organized catalogs, specifically researching original archaeological field notes and provenance history
- Excelled at proper artifact handling, catalog descriptions, photographing for museum database, and rehousing of 100+ pieces of Native American pottery (Mesa Verde focus)
- Oversaw accession documents from current and past exchanges between local museums to update artifact information and initiate further research
- Collaborated on analysis of San Francisco Waterfront Site collection, which included cataloging historical tools and household items from early 1900s Chinatown and a presentation on how to move forward with exhibit process
- Carefully cleaned and ensured proper preservation for research collections, including common Native household items and storage ways
Archaeology Lab Assistant & Sample Analyst
California Archaeology Laboratory at UC Berkeley
08.2018 - 08.2019
- Personal lab assistant to Professor Kent Lightfoot and graduate team
- Spearheaded analyzing and cataloguing 3-5lb bags of bulk samples from shell mound sites in the greater Bay Area, synthesizing them from broad field research data into organized lab interpretations for future research and papers
- Collaborated on two projects concerning food and life ways of California and Oregon Native Tribes, focusing on fishing, slash and burn agriculture, and hunting
- Utilized flotation to separate bulk samples into organized faunal and geological remains, then meticulously identified through microscopes
- Detailed in storage of organic and geological material, separated into proper categorizations before housing
- Proficient in shell typology and identification of human manipulation in artifacts and ecofacts (Ex. cooking, toolmaking, and jewelry)
- Perfected techniques of measuring, prepping, extracting, and sorting artifacts to be used as raw data for research papers and presentations, all while organizing large data spreadsheets and collaborating with coworkers
Education
Bachelor of Arts Degree - Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley
04-2020
Skills
- Museum Event Logistics and Leadership
- Time Management and Resource Prioritization
- Volunteer and Intern Training
- Money Handling and Point of Sale Operation
- Tour Guiding
- Microsoft and Google Suites
- Exhibit Curation and Creation
- Artifact Preservation and Rehousing
- Cataloguing of Artifacts and Documents
- Collections and Archives Research
- Multi-Team Collaboration
Accomplishments
Collections Management: Stewardship & Public Access
March 2026 - May 2026
- Online Course through the American Association for State and Local History
- Part of the "Small Museum Pro" certificate series
Caring for Museum Collections
June 2025 - August 2025
- Online Course through the American Association for State and Local History
- Part of the "Small Museum Pro" certificate series
Timeline
Guest Services & Collections Specialist
History Colorado
09.2024 - Current
Museum Collections & Registration Assistant
History Colorado
01.2023 - 09.2024
Museum Collections Intern
History Colorado
09.2022 - 12.2022
Museum Educator
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
05.2022 - Current
Museum Collections Assistant
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at UC Berkeley
08.2019 - 08.2020
Archaeology Lab Assistant & Sample Analyst
California Archaeology Laboratory at UC Berkeley
08.2018 - 08.2019
Bachelor of Arts Degree - Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley