Volunteering at the Museum

Volunteers are the backbone of the Santa Fe Trail Center--they help visitors in the gift shop, give tours to school groups, help build exhibits, restore historic buildings, catalog artifacts, scan images, complete data entry, and much more. In fact, there is a volunteer project for every interest and skill level. Whether you love history or are simply looking for something to do, the Trail Center would love to have you come out and talk about the many volunteer opportunities available.

 

 

Employment Oppotunity

POSITION AVAILABLE:  EDUCATION DIRECTOR/EXHIBIT DESIGNER

Responsibilities:
The Fort Larned Historical Society, owner and operator of the Santa Fe Trail Center Museum/Library in Larned, Kansas is seeking a self-motivated, creative and energetic individual as Education Director/Exhibit Designer to handle the museum’s educational programming and to plan and install exhibit updates and new exhibits in the museum’s galleries.  Exhibit development is also needed in several historic structures on the museum’s grounds as well as in a new building constructed to house automobiles and farm equipment. 

Educational duties include the training and scheduling of volunteers for guided tours through the museum as well as working to further develop the museum’s educational programs.  Exhibition duties include the planning and installation of updated as well as new exhibits in cooperation with other staff members and the scheduling of occasional traveling exhibitions. 

Museum & Community Information: 
The Santa Fe Trail Center is an American Association of Museums accredited history museum telling the story of the transportation route once known as the Santa Fe Trail.  The exhibits show this freighting trail during its commercial days and through the time of settlement along the ruts of the old trail.   The museum is located just outside the small rural community of Larned, Kansas, a town of 4,500.  The museum is two miles from Larned and four miles from Fort Larned National Historic Site, operated by the National Park Service.  Larned is 120 miles from Wichita, KS, 300 miles from Kansas City, MO and 400 miles from Denver, CO.

Education & Experience Requirements:
A four-year bachelor degree in art and/or education is desirable.  Knowledge of Western history is a plus for this position and the ability to work with volunteers, other staff members and the general public is necessary.  Candidates must have good written and verbal communication skills.  Computer skills are also needed and grant writing experience is desirable.

Application Information:
This is a half time position with a starting salary of $10.00/hour.  The position is currently open and will be filled when the ideal candidate has been identified.  Applicants should send a letter of interest, resume, names and contact information for three references via U.S. mail to:

Ruth Olson Peters, Museum Director
Santa Fe Trail Center
1349 K-156 Hwy
Larned, KS  67550

 

HERE ARE A FEW OF OUR CURRENT AND ONGOING VOLUNTEER PROJECTS

Magic Glass Lantern Slide Project

The museum recently began the long and arduous process of scanning late 19th and early 20th century Glass Magic Latern Slides. The 2300 images were taken by R.R. "Comrade" Smith, a local eccentric photographer who traveled all over the world. Included in his collections are images of Jeruselum, Damascus, Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Santa Fe Trail, and early day Larned. Please click on the links below to see some of the images scanned to date. Use your browser's back button to return to this page.

Presbyterian Church	Train Going Through Town
Fort Larned

 

Collections Management Project

Another long term project occuring at the Trail Center is the task of entering all of the museums collections records into a Collections Management database. The program, Past Perfect, was recently purchased by the curator and will allow for easier access and clearer record keeping of the collections once all of the data has been entered. Because the museum has such extensive three dimensional, archival, and photograph collections this will take thousands of hours and many volunteers to complete. Anyone interested in helping out on this project is encouraged to contact the curator at curator@santafetrailcenter.org.

 

Tour Guides

Every year, hundreds of students come through the museum on school tours. While here a tour guide takes them through the exhibit galleries and into the historic buildings on the Trail Center grounds. These guides put in many volunteer hours researching the history of the Santa Fe Trail and Kansas, and into understanding the changes that have occured along the trail as trains and cities made their way west. If you like children and enjoy teaching contact the Education Director at ed-ex@santafetrailcenter.org