Volunteer Opportunities

The Edgewater Historical Society and Museum are staffed by volunteers who generously give of their time and talents to support the work of EHS.

Perhaps you would like to give back to your community. Consider volunteering at the Edgewater Historical Society. We have many opportunities for volunteers for an hour or two a month or several hours depending on your time schedule and interests.

We have board members still on the board who began this organization in 1988. (as a matter of fact, we still have members who joined back then). They are still here, not only because of their love of Edgewater and history, but because of the friends they have in this organization.

This is a great group of people with which to become involved. Why don’t you find out how you can help and join the Edgewater Historical Society’s family of volunteers. Please call us at 773‑506‑4849 and leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will call you back, or email us at edgewaterhistoricalsociety@yahoo.com with your name, phone number and email address and we will contact you.

To learn why others volunteer at EHS, click here.

Docent- Serve during museum hours

  • Attend twice a year docent training for exhibit
  • Read a brief history of Edgewater
  • Be available for one three hour session at the museum on a Saturday or a Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
  • Be available for additional help during docent time

Docent- For the Home Tour on the Third Sunday of September

  • Before the tour read about the home you will volunteer in
  • Attend the PreTour event and bring a side dish to share (about 25 people attend this event)
  • Arrive 5 minutes early on the Day of the tour to learn your Assignment
  • Be Flexible in working with the homeowner and be willing to trade assignments in the home

Special events- Serve as a docent at a booth for community event

  • Gather information and display for the event
  • Set up and take down display
  • Spend time at the event and find others to participate at the event booth

Exhibitions

  • Exhibitions are taken down from the wall on the last Sunday of the exhibit.
    • Be available two or three times a year to take down the exhibit and replace it in designated storage boxes and take it upstairs
  • Setting up an exhibit usually takes several days
    • Be available the week before an opening of an exhibit to work
  • On hanging the exhibit, labeling the items for display, working on a brochure for the exhibit which will be printed at the museum.
  • Research for an exhibit- this takes months and requires time spent looking at the collections to determine what would follow the theme.

Oral History

  • Attend a training session on how to conduct an oral history
  • Contact subject of Oral history and make an appointment
  • Review the questions to be used in the interview.
  • Be familiar with the equipment to record and oral history.
  • Be familiar with the questions to be used in the oral history.
  • Return the oral history to the museum for proper storage.

Gardening at the museum

  • Work with the garden committee
    • Preparation for Spring Planting of annuals in planter
    • Weeding and clean up
    • Watering
    • Preparation for fall and winter

Additional opportunities

  • Create and present a walking tour for an historic section of Edgewater using information available on the web site
  • Research other aspects of Edgewater history and write for the Edgewater Scrapbook
    • Find and produce photographs to be used along with the article about a topic in Edgewater history
  • Suggested topics for research:
    • Beauty parlors and Barbershops
    • Historic neighborhoods and who built them
    • Edgewater Architects and the buildings they built
    • Edgewater Authors and their references to Edgewater
    • Family history in Edgewater
    • Women in Edgewater- changing roles
    • Choose a decade and develop a theme
  • Solicit ads once a year for EHS’s Home Tour book
  • Research building permit information (instructions provided)