Job Opportunity: Research Assistant in the US

The Gateway to Early Modern Manuscript Sermons (GEMMS) project is seeking a student enrolled in an American PhD program in a related field of study (including but not limited to early modern English literature, social, political, and religious history, theology, and book history) to assist with data collection. The duration of the position is twelve months, with a 3-month probationary period. There is a possibility of extending the contract. The researcher will work approximately 20 hours per month during the term of the contract, though the number of hours is negotiable with the principal researchers.

GEMMS is a group-sourced, online, bibliographic database of early modern (1530-1715) sermon manuscripts in the UK and North America (https://gemmsorig.usask.ca/). The role of the Research Assistant is primarily to collect metadata for the database in selected US repositories, primarily in the northeast, identified by the principal researchers. The Research Assistant also may have the opportunity to present research, to participate in promoting GEMMS, and to conduct workshops for groups of potential contributors and users.

 

Duties:

Collect metadata on sermon manuscripts at libraries and archives in the US (repositories to be selected in consultation with the principal researchers) and enter this data into the database.

Advise principal researchers of difficulties encountered and significant discoveries of additional materials.

Check and correct data currently in the database.

Contribute to GEMMS’s social media, including short posts and blogs, to highlight the content of GEMMS.

 

Compensation:

The Research Assistant will be compensated $21 USD/hour to a maximum of $5040 plus travel expenses as required. In consultation with the principal researchers, the student will develop a mutually beneficial research schedule.

 

Qualifications:

Candidates must be enrolled in a PhD program in a related field at an American university. Candidates should live in or near New Haven, CT; or Boston (including Cambridge), MA.

Candidates will be preferred if their work involves the use of early modern British or colonial sermons and/or they have a background in early modern British or colonial ecclesiastical history.

Candidates must also be willing to travel within the Eastern US to conduct research and potentially internationally to attend conferences.

Candidates must be able to communicate effectively both orally and in writing and must be able to work well independently.

Candidates must have accurate word processing skills and be attentive to detail. Familiarity with databases is an asset.

Candidates with training in early modern paleography will be preferred. Some knowledge of Latin and/or Greek would be useful, though not required.

 

Application procedure:

Applications will be accepted until November 4, 2022. We anticipate hiring to be completed in November and work to begin in January 2023, though an earlier start date may be possible.

 Please submit a cover letter outlining your qualifications and availability, a current CV, and the names and contact details for two referees to jeanne.shami@uregina.ca or anne.james@uregina.ca.