Position Summary:
The Native Policy Lab (NPL) at the University of Iowa is hiring multiple temporary, part-time, hourly, paid field researchers to assist with Project Return. Project Return is an initiative of the NPL to return Indian boarding school records to all survivors who want them. This project is currently funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through June 2028. To learn more about the project, please view this article https://now.uiowa.edu/news/2025/07/ui-associate-professor-receives-mellon-foundation-grant-partner-native-nations-2 (https://now.uiowa.edu/news/2025/07/ui-associate-professor-receives-mellon-foundation-grant-partner-native-nations-2).
Field researchers will be hired to help with records scanning at each of the following National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) field offices: Denver, CO; Fort Worth, TX; Kansas City, MO; Riverside, CA; San Bruno, CA; or Seattle, WA. Field researchers must be located near one of NARA field offices, as travel will not be reimbursed. Researchers will be required to complete the National Archives Researcher Orientation and additional safe document handling training. Further training will also be provided regarding Project Return, NPL process of requests, and confidentiality of records.
As Indian Boarding School survivors request the return of their records, field researchers will be tasked with fulfilling the requests by conducting records scanning at the NARA field offices. The NARA field offices are open Monday-Friday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Field researchers must be available to conduct records scanning during NARA field office hours. The hours for the NPL Field Researcher position will be highly variable and depend on the volume of requests and available records at each archive location.
Duties To Include:
- Completion of the National Archives Researcher Orientation training and Safe Handling of Library and Archival Materials training.
- Corresponding with NPL researchers and maintaining clear communication.
- Local travel to the National Archives.
- Fulfilling records requests in a timely manner that meets NPL expectations.
- Careful scanning of historic Indian boarding school records.
- Duties completed with attention to confidentiality requirements.
- Other site-based duties related to Project Return as assigned.
- Hiring multiple candidates. Job posting will be posted/renewed until all positions have been filled.
Position Basics: $20/hour.
Schedule: Ongoing, part time, flexible hours.
Required Qualifications:
- No education level or student-status requirements.
- Must be located near one of the following National Archives field offices: Denver, CO; Fort Worth, TX; Kansas City, MO; Riverside, CA; San Bruno, CA; or Seattle, WA.
Desirable Qualifications:
- Knowledge of or experience working within Indian Country.
