Board of Directors

Our Governance Board comprises community members who volunteer their time. To apply for this position, an individual must apply to the City Clerk at City Hall.

Archives Department

• Training is provided
• computer literacy is not an expectation
• must be at least 16 years of age
• All shifts are between Monday-Friday, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm.

Volunteers in this area help mainly in either, or both, of these areas:

• Scanning – images and documents that are then uploaded to our searchable database.
• Research requests – received from around the world, volunteers assist in locating the material.

Collections Department

• Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age
• All shifts are Monday- Friday | 8:00 am – 4:30 pm
• Training is provided annually and is a minimum of 8 hours
• Volunteers MUST pass any requested security checks to volunteer in this area
• Assist in the preservation of the artifacts through documentation, photography, research and a variety of other tasks
• Assist the Collections Manager with requests for access to the Collection or with acquisitions

Exhibit Design

• Some experience with power tools is beneficial
• Minimum age is 14 - due to risk factors associated with many of the duties in this area, individuals under 18 will not be allowed to use the power tools but can assist with tasks such as painting etc.
• Shifts vary as most volunteers are needed only in the week that an exhibit is being installed or removed. The work starts at 8:00 am and can run into the evening so this is a flexible position.
• Assist with tasks such as painting, cutting wood, construction, and moving exhibits into place/packing exhibits up.

Other

Make sure to always enquire about anything special going on because it seems we are always looking for people for this catch-all category.

To read more about our current volunteer opportunities, please also check out the Volunteer Lethbridge website. Under the Volunteering heading, search for Galt Museum & Archives.

Postering

Hang up posters for events, exhibits and programs.

Volunteers are emailed once posters are ready and they are asked to take as many as they can [at least 20] and to try to hang them up in appropriate places over the course of a week, as they run their typical errands.

Programming

This position allows the most flexibility for busy schedules.

• Volunteers work mostly with the public.
• Minimum age is 14
• shifts are available during all museum hours [7 days/week, 10:00 – 4:30 in winter and 10:00 – 6:00 in summer] or after hours.
• Training is provided.

1. Museum Store/front desk - assist customers in the store and help out behind the desk with answering the phone and helping visitors to the area. Volunteers do not handle cash.
2. Roving Interpreters – a casual form of programming, these volunteers know the exhibit but are not tour guides. They will be available to help out visitors and find answers to their questions, as well as refer them to where they can find more information. They also help out behind the desk and in the store if they’d like.
3. Tour Guides – a more formalized program, these volunteers are called in to assist when a tour is requested. We do not use tour guides for all of our exhibits, in which case the Tour Guides take on more of a Roving Interpreter role. Tour Guides can be asked to come in after hours to assist with youth groups, etc.
4. Docents – assisting with school groups, the docents help with supervision of children; activities; taking small groups aside to work with; and other similar tasks.

Special Events

For people looking for sporadic or episodic volunteering, events works well for them.

• once/year or one-time only tasks
• events range from Easter Eggstravaganza and sleepovers to Beer Tasting.
• All events are fundraisers and most require a large number of volunteers for a few hours at a time
• minimum age range changes depending on the event
• The hours are usually evenings and/or weekends

Volunteers from other departments often help at Events and Event volunteers often enjoy the Galt so much that they sign up to assist in other departments!