Volunteer Opportunities
Our Volunteers Love to be Helpful and it Shows!
If you enjoy working with people, where your interactions can help instill
a love of learning in others, we want to hear from you. We offer a number
of opportunities for volunteering at the Schenectady Museum.
For more information about any of the volunteer opportunities described below,
please contact Maryann at Baird@SchenectadyMuseum.org or
via phone at 518.382.7890 x 251.
Development Volunteers
Volunteer needed for 3-5 hours per week, to assist the Schenectady Museum
& Suits-Bueche Planetarium in its Membership and Development office.
Duties include: Data Entry; Calling new and lapsed members; Collating
information packets for members and potential sponsors; Helping to plan
members-only special events; Assisting with new member recruitment;
and some clerical responsibilities such as filing. Skills required:
Good communication skills; willingness to make telephone calls to members;
strong organizational skills.
Volunteer for making phone calls to lapsed members, and to make follow up
calls to lecture attendees.
Education Volunteers
What Do Education Volunteers Do?
Volunteer Educators help develop student skills for exploring and learning from museum objects.
Gallery programs for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 students, take place in the exhibits and in our classrooms.
Using hands-on learning, our programs focus on chemistry, nanotechnology, astronomy, physics, electricity, insects and more.
Volunteer Greeters meet and greet students who visit the museum for programs. They provide a short orientation for students
and help move groups from place to place for their scheduled programs. Greeters also assist with flow in the museum shop.
FETCH! Lab Volunteers - FETCH! Lab is a weekly program where kids learn about science and do hands-on activities like the ones
on the popular PBS TV show FETCH! The volunteer would be available to do the FETCH! Activity with our visitors, but could also
be used for general prep work or office work. As of July 1, 2009 the FETCH! Lab is open Thursday-Saturday 2:30pm – 4:30pm
Special Event Volunteers help visitors to discover more about the museum exhibits by presenting hands-on demonstrations
or creative activities on the exhibit floor on weekends or on special event days. Volunteers may be scheduled for one or
two weekend days per month (year-round) and/or to help with large special events at the museum such as Zoom Into Science.
Planetarium Operators bring the night sky to the public by operating the planetarium and running weekday and weekend shows
for both school groups and the general public. Planetarium operators are trained to present both automated shows and to do
live night sky tours as part of the regular shows.
“Behind the Scenes” Volunteers who are not as interested in working with the public,
help in the education department with clerical tasks, mailings, preparation of program materials,
and a variety of other organizational tasks.
What Kind of Training is Involved?
Training varies according to what you do. All volunteers receive a general orientation to the Schenectady Museum,
and to the workings of the Public Program/Education Department. Volunteer Educators and Planetarium Operators
receive extensive training and must have a positive assessment before being allowed to present to the public.
Volunteers also attend monthly informational meetings and training sessions designed to enhance
teaching technique and content knowledge.
Volunteers also attend monthly departmental meetings for monthly updates, additional training in content
information about the objects and topics that we explore with children, and also in teaching techniques for museum educators.
Communications Volunteers
Volunteer to help with research, to continue to add contacts to
the Museum electronic distribution list.
Volunteer to help with distribution of materials. This would involve
driving around the immediate area, to deliver materials.
Gift Shop Volunteers
Volunteers who will be the face of the Museum. Greet Visitors.
Assist with purchases in the Gift Shop. Help with Visitor information
Business Office Volunteers
Intern interested in learning more about the day to day activities
in finance and accounts payable. Computer skills a must.
Archives Volunteers
Digitization Volunteer
Work on scanning and cataloging images from one of the largest photo
collections in the world, the GE Photograph Collection.
The Museum is looking for adult volunteers to scan photographs,
upload images, and type basic information about each image into
a web-based computer catalog. Computer and scanning knowledge is helpful.
All volunteer positions in the archives require a minimum of 2 hours per week.
Flexible scheduling is available between the hours of 9am to 5pm,
Monday through Friday.
Cataloging Volunteer
Assist the Museum’s archivists in cataloging the Museum’s rich archives
relating to science and technology. Catalog books, papers, and photographs
relating to the history of science and technology in the Capital Region
into computerized databases. Create finding aids that help researchers
locate materials in the collections. Computer knowledge is helpful.
All adult volunteer positions in the archives require a minimum of 2 hours per week.
Flexible scheduling is available between the hours of 9am to 5pm,
Monday through Friday.
Preservation Volunteer
Assist in the care of the Museum’s archives collections, including photographs,
papers, advertising materials, and other forms of collections.
Provide basic preservation measures to archives collections.
Re-house new collections into acid-free folders and boxes; remove staples
and paper clips, and interleave scrapbooks.
All adult volunteer positions in the archives require a minimum of
2 hours per week. Flexible scheduling is available between
the hours of 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.
Subject Files Volunteer
Continue to develop the Museum’s subject file about GE and regional science
and technology, which assists researchers in learning about
the Capital Region’s rich history of science and technology.
Locate and clip articles in local newspapers; search Internet sources
for relevant and interesting articles. Create subject index card
for each item, and maintain an index.
All adult volunteer positions in the archives require a minimum of
2 hours per week. Flexible scheduling is available between the hours
of 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.
Volunteer Researcher
Work with the Museum’s archivists to create content for the Museum’s website
and answer reference questions relating to the history of GE and inventions
in the Capital Region. The Museum receives over a thousand requests for
information each year from all over the world, and hosts nearly 400
researchers annually. If you have an interest or knowledge in a particular
subject, such as GE history, turbines, home appliances, fans, radios,
or any other subject relating to GE or science and technology in the region,
we would appreciate your assistance.
All adult volunteer positions in the archives require a minimum of 2 hours per week.
Flexible scheduling is available between the hours of 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.
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