Volunteer
Job Description
FROM: https://www.volunteer.gov/s/volunteer-opportunity/a093d000000UqXRAA0/visitor-services-and-living-history-rv-volunteer
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ADDRESS: Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site; 15550 Highway 1804; Williston, North Dakota 58801
DEPT: National Park Service
DATES: 5/1/2022 – 9/30/2022
DESCRIPTION:
Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site seeks outgoing, friendly, and active volunteers to assist our interpretation programs in visitor center operations and living history programming.
We are looking for volunteers who can facilitate meaningful connections and provide our visitors with an excellent experience. Volunteers may assist with visitor center operations, including the information desk, bookstore, interpretative programs and events, living history programming, and education programming.
Visitor Center Operations:Covering the front desk of the visitor center; greeting visitors; answering visitors’ questions; providing information on historical, cultural, and natural history of the park; informing visitors of upcoming programs; providing area information; operation of AV programs; answering the phone as needed; operate cash register for bookstore sales; assist in covering the bookstore in the fort for lunch as needed.
In addition, we have a robust Jr. Ranger and Fort Union Jr. Trader program and a weekly Kids Craft program dedicated to innovative hands-on history projects. We also provide various off-site programs in our local community, providing Living History and educational and historical arts programs.
Living History Programming: Volunteer Interpreters dress in 19th-century attire and portray the social and economic interdependencies of Fort Union’s Fur Traders and Upper Missouri tribal members. Our site utilizes third-person interpretation. A typical workweek can vary greatly; living history talks in the Trade House discussing the heart of the trade, demonstrating a plethora of period crafts in the Craftsman shack, or making sparks fly in our fully outfitted Blacksmith Shop.
If you enjoy variety and creating innovative programs, you will love our busy summer at Fort Union!
Housing and Tour of Duty: This opportunity is flexible in scheduling and will work with individual volunteers to schedule volunteer dates. A full-service trailer pad including WIFI is available to volunteers who commit to a three or more month season. The tour of duty will be four consecutive days each week, with three days off. Each workday will be eight hours with a one-hour lunch break.
- Conducts independent research to gain a general knowledge of the story of Fort Union.
- Studies park interpretation guidelines and observes site interpreters to learn basic and advanced interpretive methods.
- Assist with bookstore operations
- Assist with visitor information/visitor center operations
- Assist with interpretive programs
- Assist with events such Rendezvous, Indian Arts Showcase, Living History Weekends, Kids Craft Saturdays, and off-site events
- Assist with living history demonstrations
- Works under the supervision of the Volunteer Coordinator.
- Ability and willingness to acquire in-depth knowledge of Fort Union Trading Post’s cultural history.
- Fort Union’s historic time period is 1828-1867.
- Our affiliated Upper Missouri Tribes are the: Assiniboine, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Blackfeet, Crow, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota, and Dakota.
- Good communication skills; ability to determine visitor needs and answer questions; positive attitude; professional demeanor; knowledge of park information; reliability; willingness to talk with visitors about the chosen subject; and encourage visitor stewardship.
- Ability to prepare and present well-planned, researched, and organized living history programs to small to medium-sized audiences of families, national and international visitors, and school groups.
- Research/Librarian
- Visitor Information
- Working with People
- The primary duty station is at Fort Union Trading Post NHS; occasional travel is possible for off-site programming.
- Living history activities are held outside, and the ground may be rugged and uneven. Rodent holes will also create a tripping hazard.
- Volunteers may work inside and outdoors in various weather conditions, including hot and sunny days, stormy weather, rain, cold, etc.
- This position requires periods of sustained talking or otherwise communicating with visitors.
- This position requires working for long periods walking, standing, and/or sitting outdoors or in non-climate-controlled buildings.
- Summers are warm, with average high temperatures in the 80s-90s June through August.
- Slip, trip, and fall hazards
- Yes