Archival Assistant

Develop your love of history, learn about archival work, and help the public uncover the past by becoming a volunteer at the National Archives at New York City.

The National Archives serves American democracy by safeguarding and preserving the records of our Government, ensuring that the people can discover, use, and learn from this documentary heritage.We ensure continuing access to the essential documentation of the rights of American citizens and the actions of their government.We support democracy, promote civic education, and facilitate historical understanding of our national experience.

Our archival assistants serve the public by helping us with archival projects. This includes preservation and description work on historical Federal records. Your work may involve creating indexes of records; unfolding, flattening, and re-foldering records; arranging and describing records; performing holdings maintenance and other archival projects.

Volunteers should be detailed oriented and able to lift heavy boxes. We are currently looking for volunteers to assist in the arrangement, description and preservation of Federal records from the 18th through 21st centuries.

Applications may be submitted at any time. Upon receipt of a written application, we will call all qualified applicants to arrange an interview for further consideration. 

All Archival Assistants are required to have fingerprints and a full background check.  We expect volunteers to commit to 4-8 hours per week for a minimum of 6 months.

• Commitment to lifelong learning

• Dependability

• Knowledge of and interest in history and archives

• Attention to detail

• Ability to work with others