Apr

Volunteers and the Smithsonian: A history

Editor’s note: This post was written by Archivist Jennifer Wright and was originally published by The Smithsonian Institution Archives blog, THE BIGGER PICTURE. SIA will be celebrating National Volunteer Month throughout April with a series of related posts about Smithsonian volunteers.

National Museum of Natural History Docent Program Manager Magda Schremp poses beside some pottery and other artifacts in the "Trade and Empire" section of Natural History's Western Civilization hall, 1991, by Rick Vargas, Black and white photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives Accession 98-015 Box 2 Folder November 1991, Negative Number: 91-15630-21.

Most often the Smithsonian Institution Archives receives original documents that researchers then go on to use as they write the histories of various subjects. Occasionally, though, the Archives receives a history that’s already been written.

A Junior League docent explains exhibits in The Hall of Gems and Minerals, National Museum of Natural History, to visiting school children, 1950s, by Unidentified photographer, Black and white photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 28, Folder 44, Negative Number: MNH 142-A.

Such was the case last fall, when we received records documenting over two decades of the meetings, activities, and administration of the Smithsonian Education Volunteers Advisory Board (better known as SEVAB). We also got an unexpected surprise: a brief history of the earliest days of the Smithsonian volunteer docent program that was written in September 1978.

Joan Madden, assistant director for education and head of the National Museum of Natural History's Education Office, in the South American Hall in the National Museum of Natural History, 1986, by Jeff Tinsley, Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 371 Box 5 Folder July 1986, Negative Number: 86-6196-9.

The 20-page document was authored by volunteers—Carol James, Gayle Baumgart and Martha Jo Meserole—and compiled from SEVAB records and discussions with staff members and current and former docents. Like true historians, the authors noted that “just as the material in the files undoubtedly reflected the biases and points of view of the various secretaries who kept records and the chairmen who wrote annual reports, in a similar way this history reflects the point of view of the committee members who selected those portions of records they believed were pertinent to the docents’ story.”

When the new National Air and Space Museum building opened in July 1976, the size of the museum’s docent corps jumped from approximately 25 to over 200. By 1977, the total number of docents across the Smithsonian was approximately 700 and had “grown to include many men as well as women in a docent corps as varied as the museums in which they teach.”

Today, over 6,000 volunteers contribute approximately 570,000 hours of volunteer services each year to the Smithsonian Institution, conducting tours, assisting visitors, leading educational activities, providing support for special events, and working behind the scenes.Learn more about being a volunteer at the Smithsonian here.

Photo of participants in the foreign language tour program offered by National Museum of Natural History during the Bicentennial of the American Revolution year at the Smithsonian, May 1976, by Unidentified photographer, Black and white photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 371, Box 2, Folder: May 1976, Negative Number: SIA2009-3229.