DE&i Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 …In the nineteenth century - and to a large extent even in the early decades of the present century - museums, other than a few of the largest, were normally staffed by enthusiastic amateurs, many of whom possessed considerable private means, and all of whom worked for love rather than for a livelihood. If these enthusiasts, as curators, were blessed with any assistance whatever, it was usually in the form of part - time volunteer workers. In the very short time I’ve worked as a volunteer, I find myself striving to leave behind records such as those left behind by many volunteers before me. To apply a little know how in my role, onto those who come after me, to take up and carry on the work so that development can carry on and knowledge may grow hand in hand. The Trials and Tribulations as a Museum Volunteer started for me here: A thirst for knowledge. Regards, Darren. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 That is great to hear.. Volunteers make all the difference or things would never move forward as quickly, satisfying I imagine too! Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Darren, your thirst for knowledge truly shows in your posts on TFF. It's good see efforts made to have accurate information. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruitbat Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 While my interest in paleontology didn't start with being a museum volunteer...my knowledge abour preparation and exhibition techniques certainly got a major boost. Back in the mid-1980s a couple of friends of mine (Ken Smith and Joe Kennedy) and I decided to volunteer at the Dallas Museum of Natural History when we heard that they were starting to reconstruct a mammoth skeleton that had been in storage for well over a decade. Under the patient guidance of Chuck Finsley (curator...who passed away about a week ago) we were able to complete (with reproductions of the missing pieces that we created ourselves) the mammoth that is now on display at the Perot Museum in Dallas. I gained a LOT of experience in what to do and what NOT to do when working with fossil bone. If you ever have an opportunity to do any volunteer work at a museum...JUMP on it! -Joe Oh...by the way...it was while volunteering at the museum when a few of us came up with the idea of starting the Dallas Paleontological Society which is still going strong after all these years! Illigitimati non carborundum Fruitbat's PDF Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarleysGh0st Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 Joe, did the three of you have any prior experience with preparation or did the museum start you right off with prepping a mammoth? Wow, what a project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruitbat Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 We had SOME prior prep experience but nothing on the scale of Mammuthus! The biggest thing any of us had worked on before that was a nearly complete Bison sp. skeleton (minus the skull) that Joe Kennedy found on the North Sulphur River. Oh...I almost forgot to mention that we also were allowed to work on a VERY large Archelon-type turtle that a farmer discovered in a creek bed on his farm near the little town of Fate, Texas. That one came out pretty well too! -Joe Illigitimati non carborundum Fruitbat's PDF Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 ...If you ever have an opportunity to do any volunteer work at a museum...JUMP on it!... And, if the opportunity doesn't come to you, ask! The rewards are life-long "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejd Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 I have had the pleaure of volunteering at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology for the past couple of years. I originally started out sorting micro fossils but have since move onto prepping in the lab. I still sort for them but now I do it at home as I recently purchased a microscope. It has been an amazing experience and I am learning a lot. I have also met lots of great people who I now consider good friends. As stated above, if you are interested, just ask. That is what I did and I am forever grateful for it. Here are a couple of links to some of the work I have been doing. http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/47083-recent-volunteer-prep-work-at-the-royal-tyrrell-museum/ http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/47131-another-specimen-i-am-working-on/ A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I would like to post a link to digit's report of his volunteer dig at the famous Thomas Farm site in Gilchrist Co., FL. This is yet another example of Pro-Am cooperation with check-marks in all the "win" columns! >LINK< "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I look forward to retiring (2027) so I can volunteer at the museum where I now work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trexy Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 I've been searching around and found The Slater Museum of Natural History near University of Puget Sound in the Tacoma. Fingers crossed, I'm hoping that I can volunteer with them even though I'm not a student. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted December 14, 2014 Author Share Posted December 14, 2014 I've been searching around and found The Slater Museum of Natural History near University of Puget Sound in the Tacoma. Fingers crossed, I'm hoping that I can volunteer with them even though I'm not a student. That's great news my fingers are crossed for you.....just curious are the requirements you have to be a student.? Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted December 14, 2014 Author Share Posted December 14, 2014 I look forward to retiring (2027) so I can volunteer at the museum where I now work... Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trexy Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 (edited) DarrenelliotI'm not sure, I'm waiting until Monday to call and ask a bunch of questions.. So far I just did a Google search for local museums and found the Slater Museum but they didn't have much information on Volunteering online. I assume that it would be easier to work with them if I was a student because it's tied to a local university. Edited December 14, 2014 by trexy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarleysGh0st Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 trexy, if you're willing to devote some time to volunteering at the museum, I'd be shocked if they didn't have some work for you to do. Being a student isn't necessary, even if the museum is affiliated with a university. Retired people are a great source of volunteer labor for museums, because, generally speaking, they're not as much in need of a paying job, as students are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trexy Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 trexy, if you're willing to devote some time to volunteering at the museum, I'd be shocked if they didn't have some work for you to do. Being a student isn't necessary, even if the museum is affiliated with a university. Retired people are a great source of volunteer labor for museums, because, generally speaking, they're not as much in need of a paying job, as students are. Unfortunately they don't have anything for me but they also don't have a very large section devoted to paleontology. I've got my eye on the Burke Museum in Seattle now. I'm definetly not going to give up. thanks for all the support! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoDave Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 The Stories posted here are ample proof that it's rewarding to be a museum volunteer, but I'll add my own. I've been a volunteer at Chicago's Field Museum for eight years now, mostly as a docent in their Evolving Planet exhibit, which presents the story of life on Earth from the Precambrian to the present. I've always loved presenting science to the public and in my day job as a high energy physicist at nearby Fermilab I would occasionally talk to school groups about the research we did there. But there was (and is) a disturbing undertone of anti-science in our society and I was particularly disturbed by the effort to foist off "creation science" in place of evolution in biology classrooms. As chance would have it, Evolving Planet was opening in the midst of a high-profile court case about teaching "intelligent design", about which I frequently fulminated. When I saw a flyer calling for volunteers to work in Evolving Planet, I decided that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness - instead of complaining about the depradations of those who would re-define science, I would go out and present the fossil record of evolution to the public and I wasn't about to let the fact that I knew very little about it stop me. I figured they'd train me and did they ever - all-day sessions every Saturday for nine weeks. The education department gave us the basics and the curators and post-docs filled us in on the latest research. Besides the knowledge, I gained a lot of enthusiasm for paleontology and now one of my favorite ways to spend a Saturday afternoon is in Evolving Planet talking with the visitors. Sure, most of the questions are "Are these fossils real?" (Most of them, yes) and "Where are the bathrooms?" (Turn right at the exit), but others have led to great discussions with visitors young and old ("What kind of dinosaur is Nessie?") that make it so worth it. If you think that nine weeks isn't very much time to learn the fossil history of our planet, you're right. I visit other museums, fossil sites and do a little fossil hunting on my own; I even blog some of it (http://paleo-tourist.typepad.com/the-paleo-tourist/).%C2'> Now that I'm a newbie at the Fossil Forum, I hope I'll learn more from all the other enthusiasts out there. Thanks for the opportunity to share my story. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 Illuminating the history of life on Earth, one candle at a time Good on ya' Mate! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 Hi everyone, I thought you would like to see the latest project im helping with in my volunteering role. http://www.natural-history-conservation.com/PeterboroughLeedsichthys.htm 1 Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 An excellent 'insider's look'! I recognize you, exercising your deft touch "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarleysGh0st Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Very nice, Darren! Is it standard procedure for everyone at your museum to wear lab coats and gloves in the prep lab? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted October 11, 2015 Author Share Posted October 11, 2015 Very nice, Darren! Is it standard procedure for everyone at your museum to wear lab coats and gloves in the prep lab? Thank you, My first two days on the project and subsequent days after consisted in reducing the weight of a large clay matrix slab by a couple of inches in order to have sufficient room to apply a fair sized thickness of plaster of paris which would, in turn help to increase stability. Just to help the stability process we also added an acetone / paraloid mix in various strengths into the clay cracks which when dry also aided as a bonding agent for our first layer of plaster of paris. So yes Lab coats where advised as things got quite messy. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trexy Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Hello everyone, it's been a while. I love all the stories I'm reading about volunteering. My update is that back in December I was looking for volunteer opportunities around the Tacoma/Seattle area but I also moved into a new position at the same time. Sad news is that they only have times to volunteer during the day which is what I work now. I will keep looking but so far no luck. I hope to hear more volunteer stories to keep me motivated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 This coming Saturday, I have a volunteer orientation class at the Perot to learn all the rules and regs of volunteering for the museum. I will be volunteering in the paleo lab doing preparation work. Me, an air scribe, and a bunch of dead things... I'm going to be in heaven! 1 Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted December 16, 2015 Author Share Posted December 16, 2015 That's great Kris..my first day as a volunteer was a real buzz and still is. Enjoy. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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