Between daily activities, evening programs, and weekend events, there’s always so much happening at Yakima Valley Museum. We rely on dedicated and passionate volunteers to help the museum preserve history, educate children, and inform and assist visitors. Meet new friends, experience a unique look at history, and become part of the exceptional Yakima Valley Museum experience. Join in the fun and become a volunteer!
Benefits include:
• Discounts at the Museum Store
• Flexible time commitments
• Annual volunteer-only events
• Complimentary family memberships
Our Visitor Service Manager maintains the front desk area. Volunteers would be a great addition to helping them with admissions, answering phone calls, selling items from the gift shop and helping cover lunches.
Front desk volunteers must be comfortable counting money, making change, restocking and cleaning the gift shop, answering questions on just about anything and great customer service.
The Yakima Valley Museum hosts numerous tours for learners of all ages, from school field trips to local organizations, and even international groups. Tour Guides lead small groups through the museum and provide insight on the museum exhibits. If you like interacting with people and have a love of local history, being a tour guide may be for you. Not confident in your knowledge? Don’t worry, we will train you!
We also need Gallery Guides, a less demanding position that involves remaining in a gallery, overseeing interactive activities, or walking the floor, answering questions during visits by large groups. Being a gallery guide provides for more informal interaction with our visitors.
Tours are scheduled throughout the year, but late spring is especially busy with school field trips.
These volunteers help maintain a clean and supportive environment in the Children’s Underground, interacting with our child guests and their caretakers as needed. Other duties may include assisting with programming, or possibly leading activities such as story time or crafts.
Special Events and Programs volunteers help make our programming a success! Volunteers lend a hand at programming like Classic Movie Nights, exhibition openings, lectures and presentations, and our Red Into Black Reception. Volunteering for special events may include set-up, clean-up, and handling money, among other tasks.
Volunteers in collections can perform a variety of tasks. Ongoing projects include cataloging and inventorying artifacts. They may also assist in the preparation of objects for storage and exhibition. A collection volunteer must be meticulous and able to follow instructions. A passion for history is necessary.
The Curator of Exhibits seeks dedicated volunteers to support the research and installation process for new exhibits. As an exhibit volunteer, you will play a vital role in bringing our exhibitions to life, contributing to both the creative and logistical aspects of the process. Your tasks will involve conducting research, assisting with basic graphic design, and participating in various aspects of exhibition installation.
Volunteers in the Sundquist Research Library assist with the organization and maintenance of the museum's archives, including computer data entry. They also utilize books, photographs and manuscripts to research topics for visitors and staff. A library volunteer should be detail-oriented. The archives is a fun place for anyone who enjoys working with historical records.
Facilities and maintenance is a huge task in a building with 65,000 square feet. Volunteers can assist with painting, cleaning, event set-up (requires moving tables and chairs) and if you have the skill, even electrical or plumbing work.
