Volunteering

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING FUN AND INTERESTING TO DO? The Bartholomew County Historical Society can use your talents and interests. We rely on volunteers to assist us with a variety of opportunities throughout the year. Whether at our museum at 524 3rd Street in Columbus or at The Historic Henry Breeding Farm in Edinburgh, volunteers play an important role in supporting our organization with a variety of education events, programs, fundraisers, collection storage and so much more. We would love to have your help as we work to achieve our mission: to discover, collect, preserve, and share the history of Bartholomew County for the enrichment of present and future generations.

Volunteer opportunities include one-time events or weekly/monthly tasks. We are happy to work with your schedule and volunteer priorities. You don’t need to know a lot about history to be a volunteer.

Historic Trades Volunteer

The Historical Society regularly utilizes volunteers who keep historic trades alive and share them with the public during special events. This is your opportunity to show off your skills or develop a skill you have been interested in doing. Examples include blacksmithing, spinning and weaving, candle making, cast iron campfire cooking, quilting, sewing, basketweaving, early mechanical repair, as well as how to run steam engines, and hit-and-miss engines. We’re always in need of people to help our current volunteers in their specialty, as well as adding individuals who know other historic trades. The majority of these volunteer opportunities occur at our Henry Breeding Farm during special weekend events. Because of the specialized nature of this position, it is open to those of high school age and older. If you don’t already know a trade but would like to learn, training is also available.

General Volunteer

This opportunity is on an as-needed basis for special events at the Henry Breeding Farm such as Spring on the Farm or our annual Reeves Fest, for events at the Historical Society Museum or at our fundraisers such as Talking Tombstones, The Open Door Tour, or other programs. Age requirements would depend on the activity, but generally volunteers should be high school age or older. Normal duties may include ticket taking, support activities like event setup and tear down, concessions, working craft stations, giving home tours, and other general needs. Events occur on week days and weekends at various times. There are also opportunities greeting guests at the museum or helping to care for our flower beds.

Collections Volunteer

This volunteer opportunity includes such tasks as inventorying our collection, properly storing artifacts in accordance with museum best practices, and completing paperwork in connection with the collection. Training under the Curator would be required. Location would be at the Museum at 524 3rd Street, and possibly at our off-site Collections facility. Hours would normally be weekdays between 9-5.

Do you have a skill that you think would be helpful to the Historical Society? Give us a call!

Call us at 812-372-3541 or email schristensen@bartholomewhistory.org to discuss volunteer opportunities.