You’re Needed!
AHS offers opportunities for everyone who is interested in history and who wants to become more involved in their community.
To learn more, review the following opportunities or fill out the volunteer application form.
- Docent at the Arlington Historical Museum: once a month on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. No experience is necessary. We provide orientation, a docent handbook, and refreshers. We pair you with another docent. Help show Arlington’s history to the public.
- Docent at the Ball-Sellers House: One of the oldest buildings in the region: a farmhouse built in the 1750s and restored to what it would have looked like back then. The museum is open on Saturdays from April through October from 1-4 pm. Training is an apprenticeship shadowing experienced docents several times so you can hear how the story of the house is told to the wide variety of visitors. We provide a handbook for docents and a short book about the house. Plus you can read as much about its history as you want. When you’re ready, you’ll give the tour to the museum director! Ball-Sellers House docents generally sign up for 4-5 Saturdays during the season and help docent at special events when available.
- Social Media Content: AHS has this robust website, active Facebook pages, and AHS is on Instagram @ArlingtonHistory and BlueSky. If you like to communicate via social media, we have lots of fascinating content. Do as much as you want and work with a team.
- Artifact Management: We recently moved our almost 6,000 artifacts to free storage space provided by J.B.G. Smith in nearby Crystal City. We are working on documenting some artifacts and re-housing others. We are fortunate to have experienced museum volunteers guiding us in this, and you can learn from the best.
- Research: Arlington has a rich history, and the exhibits and artifacts in our collection can tell a more meaningful story if we can share more information about what visitors are looking at. We have everything from A to Z, from Native Americans to yesterday. We also field questions from the public sent to our email inbox.
- Write a historical article for the quarterly AHS Newsletter or the annual Arlington Historical Magazine. To learn more, email us at: info@arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org
- Outreach: Help staff the Arlington Historical Society table at neighborhood events throughout the year and at the county fair in August. You’ll work with a fellow volunteer for a few hours, handing out information, selling books, and helping answer questions.
- Fundraising: AHS relies on the public’s generosity to maintain its buildings. We need help raising funds, including event planning and finding grants to apply for.
- Grant Writing: If you have experience writing and applying for grants or want to learn with AHS, this is your volunteer opportunity. Help us tap into funding for AHS projects.
- Video Editor: We record our monthly free lectures and need help editing them to post them on our website.
- Event Help: AHS hosts annual special events highlighting Arlington’s history. Each event is like a big history party, so we need help providing food, hosting, and representing AHS to the public at these fun events.