Museum Technician

FROM: https://www.volunteer.gov/s/volunteer-opportunity/a09SJ000003DVFZ

ADDRESS: Pipe Spring National Monument Fredonia, Arizona, 86022

DATES:

2/1/2025 – 6/1/2025

DEPT: National Park Service

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Come and get involved in the preservation of our historic pioneer fort! Museum volunteers will participate in artifact handling, cleaning, and preservation. In this position, you will learn to track environmental and seismographic data, help plan upcoming museum exhibits, re-stage our historic fort to give it a personal and “lived in” feel, track artifacts in our new museum database, and learn new skills in archives management. Every day is a different challenge in maintaining an historic collection. If you are looking for a rare volunteer position in the National Park Service, this is it!

The preferred volunteer candidate has:

• Skill in using basic hand tools and museum implements with prescribed safety precautions.
• Knowledge of computer operation and a variety of software packages to complete inventorying, cataloging, and extraction of data from relational databases.
• Ability to communicate information in a clear and concise manner. This includes grammar, spelling, punctuation, and terminology appropriate to museum operations in the NPS.

The purpose of the position is to perform routine museum-related tasks. The work performed affects the accuracy and timeliness of further museum functions. Duties involve the maintenance, cleaning, monitoring, and other technical tasks that support the operation and maintenance of the park’s museum collections. Decisions regarding what needs to be done involve various choices requiring the volunteer to recognize the existence of and differences among a few easily recognizable situations.

The supervisor establishes required quantity and quality, deadlines, and priorities, and provides instructions for new assignments. The volunteer is relied upon to carry out assignments through to completion. Unusual situations are referred to the supervisor. Work is reviewed for accuracy, quality, and compliance with standards and procedures. The volunteers selected for this position will have regular contact with the public as well as across divisions within Pipe Spring.

This position does involve long periods of sitting, standing, and bending. Volunteer must be able to lift up to 25 pounds. Winters at Pipe Spring tend to hover near freezing with summer highs reaching 110*F / 43*C. The high desert environment does not receive much in the way of precipitation, with an annual average rainfall totaling less than 11 inches / 27 centimeters.

Due to the nature of this position, volunteers must be over the age of 18 and able to pass a federal background check. In order to receive free housing, 32 hours of volunteer work per week is required. Limited housing on site is available. Volunteers with a personal RV will stay at the nearby Kaibab Paiute RV Park and Campground. This position is for at least three months, with the possibility to extend beyond that based on volunteer interest and the park’s needs.

Many recreational opportunities exist within a 1-3 hour drive of the Monument, including Zion National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monumnet, and countless other federal, state, tribal, and local attractions. To learn more about Pipe Spring National Monument, please visit www.nps.gov/pisp or facebook.com/pipespringnps

Tagged as: SPRING '25