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  • 1.  Remote Volunteer Programs

    Posted 05-29-2024 01:52 PM

    Hello.

    I was wondering if any organization had any experience with remote volunteers - or volunteers who do not volunteer on site at a museum or historic site building.

    We have a grassroots volunteer corps of individuals that are all over the country to promote awareness for our Foundation and the National Museum of the United States Army, but now that the Museum is built, we are wondering if there are other ways we can utilize our remote volunteer corps beyond awareness. We also want to ensure that they are feeling as recognized and valued as other volunteer groups.

    Thank you.



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    Kathleen Lugarich
    Senior Director, Historical Initiatives and Educational Development
    Army Historical Foundation
    Fort Belvoir VA
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  • 2.  RE: Remote Volunteer Programs

    Posted 05-30-2024 09:10 AM
    Hi, Kathleen - while I'm not THAT far away (60-70 miles), I volunteer for a Holocaust Education organization by acting as a moderator for book discussions on zoom.  I read the books to be discussed, analyze them and interview the authors live for live streaming.  This might be a way to engage more volunteers for you.  It's also a way to expand the audience for your programs.  Vivian





  • 3.  RE: Remote Volunteer Programs

    Posted 05-30-2024 09:52 AM

    Hi, Kathleen! This is a great question! I suggest you think about ways your remote volunteers can help with accessibility needs. At the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, we have a group of volunteers working remotely to update the alt text on all of our website images, to make it more accessible to people using screen readers. You could also have remote volunteers work on verbal descriptions of artifacts in the museum or host virtual programming like Vivian suggested. Virtual programming lends itself to engaging populations who are medically vulnerable or have other reasons that they cannot come to your museum, and makes language interpretation easier, for signed or spoken languages, as the interpreter does not need to be on-site.  - Lana



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    Lana Seibert
    Educator, Access Programs
    The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
    Kansas City MO
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  • 4.  RE: Remote Volunteer Programs

    Posted 05-30-2024 12:29 PM

    Another transcription idea similar to what Lana suggested - if you have handwritten documents in your collections, remote volunteers can transcribe them by looking at images of the writing. We did a lot of that during COVID to transcribe field notes from collecting expeditions. 



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    Tony Millet
    Chief Financial Officer
    Natural History Museum of Utah - University of Utah
    Salt Lake City UT
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  • 5.  RE: Remote Volunteer Programs

    Posted 06-10-2024 02:33 PM

    Greetings Kathleen,

    I have been volunteering for the Houston Maritime Center and Museum since 2020. (Originally the Houston Maritime Museum.)

    I live 60 miles north of Houston and the traffic is a problem. While I have worked at the museum a number of times, I have devoted countless hours digitizing written materials, photos, etc. at home.

    I was prompted to do this when the daughter of the museum's founder gave me six boxes of his memorabilia. I have these in my home office. My work has included, sorting ang putting the materials in archival file boxes cataloging the contents of each box, transcribing a CD on his life, interviewing several museum staff, digitizing 35mm slides, and scanning/cataloging the founder's documents. 

    I recently completed my Capstone project for a MS in Maritime and Naval Studies. My subject was a biography of the founder of the Houston Maritime Museum and the history of the museum since it opened December 1, 2000. 

    I am planning to publish the founder's biography.

    While I am not the curator, I will be providing the digitized files identified for easy download to their Past Perfect system.



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    Peter Hames MBA
    Volunteer
    Houston Maritime Museum
    Houston TX
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  • 6.  RE: Remote Volunteer Programs

    Posted 06-13-2024 09:32 AM
    Good morning Kathleen,
    Just a thought, your volunteers to scout out their local archives, historical societies, even veteran associations like VFWs in the area they reside to find individual veteran stories/photos that could be added either to the LOC Veterans History Project (if they are feeling ambitious) or to NMUSA's database (if you have one). If not, the ephemera could be sent to Carlilse. Sadly many small historical societies are closing due to the aging of their volunteers, and their army artifacts/ephemera might be of interest to you. Boots on the ground catch opportunities that CMH in DC would never hear of, and just about everyone likes a scavenger hunt!
    V/R,
    Barbara
    " A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal" Proverbs 12:10

    Barbara Taylor
    Museum Curator
    Maryland Museum of Military History
    5th Regiment Armory
    29th Division St.
    Baltimore, MD 21201
    667-296-3470 (O)
    443-756-7826 (Mobile)