Volunteer Opportunities at the Museum
Looking for a way to meet interesting people from all around the world who share your love of history? Considering ways to be more active in the community? Wondering how to support the Museum more fully? We can help! No experience is necessary, only a willingness to give a half-day, a day, or perhaps several days each month as a guide or manager at the 1719 Hans Herr House. We will train you in the art of presenting informative, entertaining tours, or retail sales management.
Do you have experience in human relations, management, personnel, or event coordination? Do you enjoy the satisfaction of seeing all the scheduling of an event come off without a hitch? Do you crave an opportunity to contact a wide variety of craft demonstrators and volunteers? We want you! We will arrange for you to work with others with similar interests in coordinating the many events of the Museum.
Are you a craftsperson in the old tradition? Do you have experience or interest in colonial-era or old-time hand-work, such as blacksmithing, joinery, basketmaking, quilting, coopering, broom-making, tanning, dyeing, cobbling, or animal husbandry? Are you itching to demonstrate your skill to an appreciative public? Have we got a job for you! We can provide you with plenty of opportunities to let your light shine.
Have a hankering to dress up in 18th century clothing and talk about colonial life to schoolchildren and adults alike? Feel a thrill when you read about reenactments? Wish that you could try out for the cast of “Colonial House”? You’re not alone! We can get you started on the road to historical interpretation with our library and files and expert advise on material, patterns, and supplies, and may even dress you from the Museum wardrobe. And we will train you in interpretive technique, and provide you with on-the-job experience.
The Museum has an ongoing need for volunteers. Only the Museum Director’s position is full-time, and only for eight months of the year. The Administrative Assistant, Secretary and Visitor Guide, and Curator are the remaining paid staff positions. All the paid staff perform professional-quality work, frequently juggling a variety of tasks, often including regular daily tours of the 1719 House.
If you live within a reasonable travel distance of the Museum and have any inclination at all to volunteer at the Museum, please do contact the Museum at your earliest convenience.
We are looking for persons to work half-days (usually from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. or from 12:30 to 4 p.m.) or full days (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) as either gift-shop and ticket sales managers or guides for tours of the 1719 House. We hope to have an active volunteer staff of about sixty people to cover this need; at present we are somewhat short of that figure. We would like to encourage those who can do so to volunteer on a consistent schedule – for example, every other Tuesday, or the third Friday of every month, or even better, one day or half-day every week. On days when school groups schedule visits to the Museum we require additional staff; typically we need two persons beyond the regular tour guide. Days of school group visits might also be opportunities for brief demonstrations of colonial-era crafts.
We are also in need of a general volunteer coordinator or volunteer coordination committee as well as coordination committees for Heritage Day, Snitz Fest, and Christmas Candlelight Tours, and we are very happy to expand the numbers of demonstrators or presenters for the special events. Many of these positions could be filled by persons with limited mobility, or who would like to volunteer only for a limited period of time.
For more information, contact the Administrative Assistant (info@hansherr.org) or call (717) 464-4438.