volunteer
Sandy Spring Museum relies upon the hard work and commitment of volunteers. Each year, volunteers give the Museum over 7000 hours of their valuable time, a staggering act of generosity and commitment that makes the difference in every aspect of Museum life. Some people come every week for a special time, some take on particular tasks and see them through to completion, some help with events, some help in the office. Some help researchers, and others work with kids through our education program. Some are seniors, some are students. The Museum welcomes all volunteers. Every January, we offer a training program that acquaints volunteers with the whole range of Museum activity and encourages them to imagine work they might do. The Museum gives three awards each year to volunteers at our September general membership meeting. And in December, a grateful staff and board get together to cook our volunteers a sumptuous luncheon.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of a warm, effective, treasured, and hard-working community of Sandy Spring Museum volunteers.
If you're interested in volunteering, please fill out this form.
Current volunteer needs include:
Education, supporting the schools program (5-6 people)---The Museum's school program quadrupled in size in 2010-11, and we are welcoming volunteers to help as guides, docents, and teachers for school groups. Scheduling is flexible and made well in advance. Training with the program objectives and materials is available, and interested people can see details of the curriculum standards our programs address by exploring the education page of our website. Please contact Stephanie Boyle (sboyle@sandyspringmuseum.org)
Retail, managing, marketing and expanding the Beatrix Moore Gift Shop (1-2 people)– Named for an early twentieth century local entrepreneur, the Moore Gift Shop at the Museum features handmade, often one-of-a-kind jewelry, baskets, woodcrafts, quilted, woven, and knitted textiles, pottery and metalwork. Shop needs a reliable volunteer with retail experience to manage about 25 consigners, and to oversee an annual calendar of promotions and special sales opportunities (wedding season, Mother’s Day, holiday, etc.) Please contact Ellen Hartge (ehartge@sandyspringmuseum.org)
Docents, leading tours of Museum exhibits (3-4 people) – The Museum has opened a new exhibit each of the last two years, and is working steadily on new exhibits for 2012 and 2013. Docents would guide visitors through the exhibits, answering questions and pointing out essential artifacts and ideas, engaging visitors in conversation and following up with Museum staff about visitor interests. Docents are also welcome to develop their own research interests and suggest improvements or new exhibits. Scheduling is flexible, but would focus on Mon, Wed, and Thurs, 9-4, and Sat/Sun 12-4, when the Museum is open to the public. Training is available. Please contact Sharon Holt (sholt@sandyspringmuseum.org)
Research helpers, developing finding aids and assisting researchers (3-4 people)– The Museum fields a regular stream of research requests, and we invite people to come to the archives to work with research helpers when the Museum is open. Volunteers interested in history, able to use a computerized catalogue, and willing to work with the public are most welcome to be at the Museum as research helpers. Hours are flexible, but our primary need is for Mondays and Wednesdays. Weekend work is also available, as is some training with the collection. When not directly assisting researchers, research helpers are encouraged to immerse themselves in particular collections and make them more accessible and useful to researchers by noting the most important aspects and subjects in each collection. (Please contact Joe Reiff (jreiff@sandyspringmuseum.org).
Use the online contact form to let us know you are interested. We'd love to put your talents and energies to work here, where you can Be Inspired!
17901 Bentley Road • Sandy Spring, Maryland 20860 • 301.774.0022 • electronic mail • sitemap
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