Thank you for your interest in volunteering with the Cumberland Museum and Archives.

Read the descriptions below and then select the options that best fit your skill set and interest, at the bottom of the page.

The museum will invite you in to talk with us when a position comes available to see if it is of interest and a good match for your skillset!

Visitor Services

Time Required: 4 hour shifts

Responsibilities: The Museum’s front end greeters are responsible for greeting museum visitors, answering the phone, accepting photo and research requests, dealing with admission and store transactions, and answering any questions regarding local sites, history, and amenities. They may also re-stock inventory in the store, make notes of items that need re-ordering, and ensure that the merchandise is orderly and well presented.

As skillset allows:

Uploading individual photographs to the new Atom database and ensuring that the photo matches the description within.

Conducting research requests and accompanying electronic research reports for the inquirer with all of the details found. Maintenance of the Community Research Room.

Resources: Individuals will be provided with comprehensive training as well as a resource manual for reference. A staff member will always be on the premises should the volunteer require any assistance.

Recommended Skills and Experience: English Language Proficiency, organized, friendly, knowledge of the local area

Recommended interests: Local History, Social interaction and/or sales

Research Assistant

Time Required: Variable

Responsibilities: The Museum’s volunteer research assistants fulfill community research requests. These requests are often genealogical in nature, but may also involve researching an item in the Museum collection, or the history of a building or business. Research may also be performed for the development of a new exhibit. In addition to conducting research the volunteer will also complete an electronic research report for the inquirer, which contains all of the details found during the research request. Each request is accompanied by an allotted number of hours that the person would like dedicated to the request, and details pertaining to the depth of research required. Research Assistants are also trained in the maintenance of the Community Research Room, and other specialized tasks as requested by the Archives Technician.

The position may also involve Visitor Services duties if the volunteer is open to this.

Resources: The museum offers several research resources for our volunteers, including access to computers, the Community Research Room, and if needed the volunteer can request accompanying a staff member into the archives for a particular resource. Each volunteer will also be trained personally by an individual with full knowledge of the museum and its collections, and will have staff support at all times. A template for final research reports is also provided.

Recommended Skills and Experience: MS Excel, Gmail, advanced writing skills, and internet and database search techniques (at times the volunteer will be required to research businesses that are manufacturers of items for the database which are not local, or they may be required to use other databases such as BC Archives or Family Search to retrieve information about people required for the database records).

Recommended Interests: History and/or genealogy

Special Events

Time Required: Variable

Responsibilities: The Museum produces a number of events throughout the year, each with a unique set of volunteer responsibilities. Some of these include; set-up and tear-down, décor, technical production, traffic marshalling, kitchen, serving, bartending, children’s programming, monitoring our silent auction, selling raffle tickets, merchandise and membership sales, and generally helping the events run smoothly! We are also always looking out for photographers, videographers and video editors who are willing to volunteer their skills to help us capture our events.

Recommended Interest: Local History

Tour Guide

Time Required: On-call, 1 – 1.5 Hours per/tour

Responsibilities: Museum tour guides provide informative and entertaining tours of the museum on an on-call basis. The Museum offers tours to school groups, organizations, and private groups with various perspectives from which to experience Cumberland’s history. Thematically, the museum is broken into two main sections, the upper and lower levels. The upper level displays exhibits focused on Village history such as schools, businesses, and communities, while the lower level displays exhibits about resources and industry, with a focus on coal mining and logging.

Resources: Volunteer Tour guides are trained in full, including shadowing established tour guides. Volunteers are also provided with point form scripts corresponding to the various perspectives offered to our visitors. There is access to our research library for Volunteers wishing to further their knowledge and expand tour offerings. Volunteers may also specify their comfort level around specific age groups and specific perspectives or themes. Guides will be given a minimum of one week’s notice for tour bookings (unless the guide indicates short notice availability), and will be contacted on a rotating basis.

Recommended Skills and Experience: English language proficiency, public speaking, experience working with children and/or the elderly

Recommended interests: Local history

Maintenance Worker

Time Required: 8 hours per month

Responsibilities: This position is responsible for general up-keep of the interior of the Museum, which was built in 1981. We have had some recent upgrades. Help us keep our museum beautiful! Tasks may include: painting, touch-ups, hard-to-reach jobs (replacing lightbulbs etc.), purchasing supplies, and repairing or replacing equipment as needed.

Resources: Reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses and access to our current assortment of tools.

Recommended Skills and Experience: High attention-to-detail, work experience in a public setting, general home improvement, ability to perform subtle repair work (to not distract from exhibit viewing), safety awareness, conscientious.

Recommended Interests: Repairs and up-keep

Thank you for taking the time to complete this form. The Museum will be in touch with volunteer opportunities and training for specific roles when they come available.