Volunteering with Us
The Bloomington Historical Society is an all-volunteer organization.
Volunteer activities include museum hosting,
history interpretation, artifact intake, archival tasks, leading
special events and other tasks describe below. You will enjoy working with the
welcoming group of people contributing to the Bloomington Historical Society's
mission and goals.
To apply for a volunteer role,
send an email to bloomitarian@gmail.com with any questions or
to let us know about your interests.
Volunteer Opportunities
The following is not a complete list of volunteer activities, but
it does capture something of the wide variety of roles available. Many volunteers
choose to be involved in a number of the following activities.
Museum Hosting
Volunteer at the Old Town Hall Museum for a four-hour shift greeting visitors
and guiding them through the museum. Share information about items
on display and encourage visitors to become Historical Society
members. You do not have to know a lot about Bloomington history
to volunteer. You will quickly increase your knowledge as you spend time
browsing the displays and chatting with visitors.
Archiving and Artifacts Curation
We accept artifacts donations every month, and these artifacts need to be
identified, photographed, and logged into our artifact database. In addition,
there is a large backlog of uncatalogued artifacts that need processing. If
you like to explore and discover fascinating glimpses of the past, you will
enjoy being involved in this activity.
Development / Fundraising
Increase funding for
the Bloomington Historical Society through memberships, donations,
grant writing, event sponsorships and online fundraising
opportunities. Funding is needed for events & programs, special
projects, collection management & preservation, and general
operating funds (insurance, etc.). If fundraising is your gift, we
need you!
Display Creator
Select
the subjects for five displays per year at Civic Plaza (up for about
two months each) and for smaller monthly displays at the Museum.
Work with Registrar volunteers to identify and find items in the
Museum collection to put on display. Write and print text to
accompany displays, telling stories which inspire the Bloomington
community.
Programs and Special Event Planning
Help the planning team to plan a
special event at the museum with a history-related theme on a very
small budget. Use your community networking skills and event
planning experience to put together a one or two-hour event at the
Museum. Past events have included lectures on specific historic
subjects by our Museum volunteers, music or entertainment, short
historical theater productions, slide/film presentations and seasonal
celebrations.
Social Media Volunteer
Volunteer to monitor discussion on
Social Media platforms and plan posts on behalf of the Bloomington
Historical Society. Provide text and photos to be posted on our
Facebook page or Website.
It could expand in the future to other Social Media
options. Monitor Bloomington history discussion on other Facebook
sites and capture posted stories, comments and photos.
Photographer
Volunteer
to take digital photos around Bloomington of how it looks today.
Take documentary photos of businesses, places of worship and other
public buildings and parks. Identify and download digital media to
Museum computers and back-up media.
Stage and photograph museum artifacts for a new digital inventory system.
Photograph items to accompany social media posts, newspaper articles
and displays. Identify and download digital images to Museum
computers and back-up media.
Writer / Newsletter Editor
Prepare a quarterly
newsletter for historical society members. Select topics and
newsworthy items. Write about some aspect of Bloomington History, or
some research recently done by Museum staff. Prepared articles can
be formatted into newsletter software by a Board Member. Bonus:
Write a guest column about Bloomington History for Sun newspapers
several times a year. Historical accuracy and consistency with the
BHS mission are critical.
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