Position Overview
The Brown Brothers Collection is a collaborative, cross-institutional research project supported
by a seed grant from the NYU Center for the Humanities and Research Technology, NYU IT,
that will develop robust teaching, research, and digital / public humanities resources that
leverage the digitized Brown Brothers & Company archives held by the New York Public Library,
a key set of sources for New York City’s financial history.
The project is seeking a graduate, or advanced undergraduate research assistant to join the
team for its use-case pilot phase (more on page 2). The assistant will conduct research related
to the history of financial data, accounting practices, banking in 19th-century New York, and
slave economies. As part of this phase, you’ll have the opportunity to work on an
interdisciplinary team comprising both humanists and data / machine learning specialists.
Salary and Duration
Spring 2021: $20/hr, 10 hours a week, for 14 weeks.
Required Qualifications
● Experience with and interest in archival research, and particularly working with ledgers
and bookkeeping
● Research interests in 19th-century urban history or the history of capitalism
● Prior experience working with digitized archival materials
● Strong ability to relay research and findings in accessible formats
Preferred Qualifications
● Familiarity with the history of U.S. bank records and finance-sector document genres
● Prior experience with data-driven research and interdisciplinary, collaborative projects
● Interests in project-based learning, data and information pedagogy, and digital or public
humanities
Application
To apply for the position, please email a CV and statement of interest to Prof. Thomas Augst:
tom.augst@nyu.edu.
