Located next door to the Denver Art Museum, volunteers at the Center for Colorado Women's History support our mission as tour guides of our historic spaces, engaging visitor center volunteers to our tours and gift shop, as well as field trip facilitators for our student program, 1918.

Front Desk Volunteer

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Desired Schedule:

One shift (3 hours) per month is required. Two to four shifts per month are recommended and appreciated. Available shifts daily in accordance with the museum’s public hours:

• Monday - Saturday: 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, and/or 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
• Sunday: 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm 

All volunteers are also encouraged to participate in at least one special event per year, such as Colorado Day, Night at the Museums, Doors Open Denver or holiday teas.  These events allow us to expand our audience and reach people in different ways.  Front Desk volunteers can participate by volunteering at the front desk, learning a very abbreviated version of the tour, serving teas or offering general support for special events. Museum events and opportunities are shared with volunteers by museum staff, and available shifts are consistently updated on Volgistics.

Job Description:

Front Desk Volunteers work in CCWH Visitor Center/Carriage House, where they welcome guests, answer questions and provide information about the museum’s offerings, and transact attendance, admission, and giftshop sales.

Duties Include:

• Practice flexibility and adaptability to meet daily operational needs of the museum
• Create a space of belonging by avoiding assumptions, using inclusive language, assuming best-intention of guests, and paying attention to guests varied needs
• Understand the accessibility accommodations the museum can provide to guests
• Make clear to guests the free and paid offerings of the museum, which includes tour schedules, exhibits, gardens, and the gift shop and book store 
• Answer questions about museum exhibits, programs, and events
• Operating the point of sale systems and cash register for ticket sales, gift shop sales, event and ticket check-in, member check-in, and cash handling
• Answering the phone and take messages for staff
• Communicate effectively with interns, volunteers, and staff onsite about operational happenings and needs, use walkie talkie system
• Communicate your own personal and scheduling needs to museum staff
• Have familiarity with the museum (cowomenshistory.org) website in order to refer guests to this resource
• Answer inquiries about women’s history and the museum’s connection to History Colorado
• Act as an ambassador to the History Colorado museum network and to other local museums, restaurants, attractions and Denver
• Strive to attend optional enrichments, meetings, and trainings held by museum staff

Desired Skills:

Front Desk Volunteers should be comfortable working in customer service in an outward facing role that involves guest interface, multi-tasking, and patient and effective management of varied guest needs. Front Desk Volunteers can expect a dynamic position that requires staying on top of museum developments. Front Desk Volunteers should be comfortable with or open to learning point of sale technologies. This volunteer position may involve light office work and offers the opportunity for special projects per the needs of the museum and interests of the volunteer. Volunteers are benefitted by an interest in women’s and Colorado history, and a willingness to learn more about gender as a social force.

 

Tour Guide

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Desired Schedule:

One shift (3 hours, approx) per month is required. Two to four shifts per month are recommended and appreciated. Available shifts daily in accordance with the museum’s public hours:

• Monday - Saturday: 10:15 am to 1:15 pm, and/or 1:15 pm - 4:15 pm
• Sunday: 1:15 pm to 4:15 pm 

All volunteers are also encouraged to participate in at least one special event per year, such as Colorado Day, Night at the Museums, Doors Open Denver or holiday teas.  These events allow us to expand our audience and reach people in different ways.  Tour Guide Volunteers can give open-house style abbreviated tours during free days, lead tours for special events and private groups, and provide general support during special event days. Museum events and opportunities are shared with volunteers by museum staff, and shifts are consistently updated on Volgistics.

Job Description:

Tour Guide Volunteers facilitate movement through and education within the historic house onsite. Tour guides facilitate education about women’s and gender history in Colorado. Themes on the Women’s History Tour include the experiences of Colorado women pre-statehood, suffrage, class history with a focus on domestic work, World War 1, the Arts and Crafts Movement and women artists in Colorado. Tour Guides may also share about the architectural and design features of the house and the artifacts.  The maximum number of tours a guide will provide in one shift is three.

Duties Include:

• Safely lead up to three tours per shift consisting of groups of 1-15 people through 1-2 floors of the historic home, which is about 10,000 sq ft.
• Communicate clearly to guests the guidelines for touring the historic house, ie: seating options, prop handling, refraining from touching artifacts, etc.
• Understand and make clear to guests the accessibility accommodations of the museum; operate the elevator onsite for guests with mobility needs and/or using mobility devices
• Learn the outline of the historic house tour and the important themes of women’s history the museum seeks to address
• Become familiar with the exhibits at CCWH as they change in order to incorporate new information into your tour and answer guest questions
• Practice ongoing learning using History Colorado and CCWH exhibits, trainings, and resources with the understanding that your tour will change over time
• Practice inclusive language, mindfulness of social positioning, and respect of the diverse perspectives represented by guests and within the museum
• Invite curiosity, questions, and observations from guests
• Facilitate prop handling in the historic house
• Maintain timeliness of tours and limit tours to 45 minutes to an hour (maximum)
• Communicate effectively with interns, volunteers, and staff onsite about operational happenings and needs; use walkie talkie system
• Communicate your own personal and scheduling needs to museum staff
• Answer inquiries about the museum’s connection to History Colorado
• Act as an ambassador to the history Colorado museum network and to other local museums, restaurants, attractions and Denver
• Strive to attend optional enrichments, meetings, and trainings held by museum staff

Desired Skills:

Tour Guides should be comfortable talking to guests in an outward facing role and excited about facilitating learning about women’s history in Colorado. Tour Guides should be adaptable, flexible, and responsive to the varied needs of visitors on tours. Tour guides should be willing to expand their historical knowledge and excited about the mission of the museum to uplift diverse stories of women of Colorado. Tour guides should have a knowledge of and passion for history and feel comfortable speaking in front of groups.

 

1918 Field Trip Facilitator

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Desired schedule:

Field trips are scheduled on a case by case basis and will be updated on volgistics throughout the school season. The majority of field trips run in November, February-May and can be in-person or virtual. Programs can begin as early as 9 am and as late as 2 p.m. In-person and virtual field trips are scheduled often, but not exclusively, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Job Description:

As a 1918 School Programs Guide, you will be facilitating conversation and guiding 3rd and 4th grade students as they immerse themselves in the year 1918. With the guidance of character cards based on people who lived and worked in the home or are significant figures in women’s history, students will use historic props and primary sources like newspaper clippings from the era to learn about the program’s three key themes of 1918: World War I, the Spanish Flu pandemic, and the fight for women’s right to vote, while connecting them to the experiences of the individuals inside and outside the house. 

Desired Skills:

Field Trip facilitators should have a knowledge of and passion for history, feel comfortable speaking in front of groups, and be physically able to lead and facilitate movement of a group through the historic house and talk for up to two hours in a row. Comfort and previous experience working with young children encouraged. 

 

Tea Volunteers

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Desired schedule:

Tea events are offered throughout the year, and include seasonal holiday teas and Valentine’s tea. Public tea events feature two tea seatings per date. Tea events are two hours in duration, and include a docent-led women’s history tour followed by an hour-long tea seating in our history lab, which is catered by local partners of CCWH. Our morning tea seating begins at 10:30 AM with guests sitting for tea at 11:30 AM. Our afternoon seating begins at 1:30 PM with guests sitting for tea at 1:30 PM. Volunteers may support teas by offering tours, or by working tea service. 

Private tea events are also available for clients to book, and follow the above structure. 

Volunteer Roles:

Tea Servers 

• This role prepares the tables for tea service, plates the catered food, brews tea, serves guests, and provides clean up. Typically, this role is two-three hours for one tea seating. 

Tea Tour Guides & Server Assistants

• This role provides the tour for all or some of the tea guests and assists the tea server in serving guests. After the tour, they escort guests to the program room, help with seating and they pour the first round of tea before assisting the Tea Server with other needs. When guests are ready to leave, this role escorts guests back to the gift shop. This role is about two-three hours for one tea seating.

Desired Skills:

Tea Tour Guides must be previously trained to give house tours and be comfortable guiding up to 15 people through the house. Tour guides should have a knowledge of and passion for history, feel comfortable speaking in front of groups, and be physically able to lead tours through the historic house.

Tea Servers should be personable, comfortable handling food, pouring tea and assisting with dishes and clean up. This position requires walking, standing, carrying plates and other dishware and navigating a room with several tables close together. Tea servers are required to attend an in-person tea service training offered by staff before signing up for tea service. Tea Service Training takes place onsite (1-2 hours) and is offered twice a year by staff. 

 

 

Special Projects

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Desired schedule:

Scheduling will occur when special projects arise; no set schedule or minimum requirement. 

Position Description: 

This volunteer role will be utilized by volunteers who contribute towards special projects outside of their operational roles of tour guide or front desk. Special projects can be shaped by a volunteer's interests and unique skills. At this point in time, this role is exclusively for volunteers who are already trained and proficient in an operational role (Tour Guide, Front Desk). 

Impact: 

The Center for Colorado Women’s History focuses on scholarship, research, lectures, tours and exhibits that expand the understanding and collective memory of the history of women in Colorado. Volunteers in the CCWH Special Projects role assist staff in connecting local stories to the broader stories of women’s history worldwide. 

Desired Skills: 

• Must be a current CCWH volunteer already
• Ability to communicate in a friendly, clear and professional manner