Volunteer

Come volunteer with us!

Volunteers are a vital part of supporting the mission of the Museum. They can be involved in a variety of projects ranging from programming, outreach, and to the care and conservation of our collections. NMIH staff work closely with volunteers, match volunteers with projects that reflect their particular interests and skills, and provide the necessary trainings to support volunteer efforts.

Volunteers take part in an orientation and training process that familiarizes them with the Museum and the work at hand.

Volunteer Job Descriptions (availability may vary)
Volunteer positions include the following titles and job descriptions:

 

Gallery Guides:

A Gallery Guide has one of the most important jobs at the Museum—helping to educate and spark an interest in learning for our visitors. This volunteer position is a rewarding and enriching opportunity that allows you to share your love of history with the community. Gallery Guides create a welcoming environment, answer questions about artifacts and the site, monitor Museum spaces to ensure the safety of the collection and visitors, and provide a friendly knowledgeable presence in the galleries. Your role in presenting artifacts, unlocking stories, and protecting these treasures for the future is priceless.

 

Docents:

Docents are knowledgeable, enthusiastic people who lead tours for members of the public and VIPs. They are professional volunteers who work closely with the public to introduce and deepen the experience of the exhibition for tour groups of all ages. Docents play a very important role in our Museum by engaging with the public so that we can deliver our mission statement—to forge a connection between America’s industrial past and the innovations of today by educating the public and inspiring the visionaries of tomorrow.

 

Front Desk:

The Admissions Desk personnel are the first face that our guests see when they enter the Museum. Our job is to make the guests feel comfortable so that they can enjoy their Museum experience. As a Front Desk Volunteer, you will learn the nuances of customer service while also learning about how a retail establishment in a non-profit environment (our Museum Shop) operates using a Point-of-Sale (POS) Terminal.

 

Mechanical Volunteers:

Mechanical volunteers work with our Museum Historian and mechanical volunteer specialists to restore industrial machines and artifacts for exhibits and programs. The skillset needed to be an effective mechanical volunteer includes knowledge of machinery. This hands-on opportunity allows volunteers to learn new skills from industry experts.

The electric furnace melt shop at Bethlehem Steel. Courtesy of the Steelworkers Archives.

Archives:

The archival collections at NMIH are varied and diverse, including artwork, photographs, receipts, posters and various other ephemera. Volunteers and interns undergo training so they are comfortable working with a variety of sometimes fragile documents to help us catalog the collection and make information available to the public. It is imperative that inventory workers be comfortable with handling these items carefully.

 

Fill out the online form to inquire about becoming a volunteer! 

For additional questions about becoming a volunteer, please contact the museum at [email protected] or 610.694.6644