Cayman Islands National Museum jobs and careers

About Cayman Islands National Museum

The Cayman Islands National Museum “Museum” is dedicated to the preservation, research and dissemination of all aspects of the Caymanian heritage. It is the only institution on the Islands officially entrusted with these imperative responsibilities. As such, it holds a special place in the minds and hearts of Caymanians. Due to the rapid pace of economic growth and a dramatic generation gap, the collection and safekeeping of the non-renewable National Collection is essential. After years of planning, artefact conservation, and exhibit design, the Museum opened to the public in 1990 in the Old Courts Building. The Museum can trace its roots to the 1930's when Mr. Ira Thompson began collecting artifacts as a hobby. In 1979, the government purchased Mr. Ira's collection which became the nucleus of the National Museum Collection. Today, the Museum's collection contains over 9,300 items ranging from tiny coins to a 14-foot catboat, to natural history specimens and rare documents. The Museum Law (1979, 1999 Revision) mandates the Museum to collect “historical, natural, and scientific objects of interest”. The Natural History segment of the collection includes fossils from the sea which were discovered on land, forms of land-life retrieved from the sea and everything in between. The Museum established the first publicly held Art Collection in the Cayman Islands, which today forms part of the nation’s National Collection of art, an extensive collection of Caymanian arts and crafts. The Cultural History Collection offers tangible evidence of our social development; it includes objects as diverse as shipbuilding tools and equipment, cannons, writing implements, furniture and hats. Additionally, the Museum Collection comprises archaeologically recovered items from both terrestrial and underwater sites.