Museum Docents

Simply stated, docents are the volunteers who engage our guests throughout the museum exhibits.

A docent will often be the most impactful volunteer with which a guest interacts.

When guests are in the building, the docent on duty should remain within sight of the visitors, available in case they have questions.  It is also the responsibility to watch over and make sure visitors are not inappropriately interacting with exhibits – for their safety as well as that of the exhibits.

If you choose to serve as a docent, you should have some level of familiarity with our exhibits and the topics we teach within them so that you are able to answer at least basic questions.  It is never expected that our docents will know everything – only that you have a willingness to learn alongside the visitors!

The training available here on the website, and resources made available at the museum, help you to be able to do this.  “History 101” courses in the Volunteer Learning Center and the history sections of the “Red Book” under the desk (also available for download) will give you a basic understanding of our exhibits and enough knowledge to answer most guest questions.  Additional reading material is offered in our growing library.

Docents are encouraged to learn the basics of BOTH museums, in order to escort guests between both buildings.  Over time as our volunteer number grows, we may be able to assign trolley station and National Road docents independently.

Any docent who is confident in their knowledge is welcome to offer fully guided tours of the museums to guests.  A more formal tour is made available to scheduled large groups and special training is made available for this.