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Volunteer!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED AT LOWELL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

HELP WANTED

Lowell National Historical Park Seeking Volunteers

Lowell National Historical Park is currently seeking volunteers and community service groups for a variety of needs. Interested individuals and service groups can help the park in a variety of ways:

· Conduct spring clean-up projects along canals, rivers, and walkways
· Greet park visitors and help people learn the park story at the Visitor Center, Boott Cotton Mills Museum, or Mill Girls and Immigrants Exhibit at the Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center
· Participate in special partnership group that hosts, interprets, and maintains the Moody St. Feeder Gatehouse as a downtown visitor site on Merrimack St.
· Assist curatorial staff with museum artifacts and mounting of exhibits
· Help maintain historic structures, keep grounds clean, and maintenance tasks
· “Adopt-A-Canalway” and landscaping, gardening, and beautification projects
· Assist with administrative and clerical duties, including computer operations
· Provide photographic, audio-visual, and video services
· Assist with special events, such as Lowell Summer Music Series, Lowell Folk Festival, Banjo and Fiddle Contest, and other park-city events
· Assist park trolley operations as part of the crew
· Demonstrate weaving on historic power looms in the Boott Cotton Mills Museum Weave Room (textile manufacturing experience typically required)
· Help with Mogan Cultural Center programs
· Assist in the park library
· Research Lowell history for programs, publications, and exhibit development
· Share knowledge of Lowell history, culture, and architecture by leading tours or giving other programs after research and training
· Assist museum teachers in school programs at the Tsongas Industrial History Center
· Sewing and production of “living history” costumes
· Assist canal lock-tenders
· Provide translation service in Spanish, Khmer, Portuguese, Lao, or other languages for park publications or ranger-led tours

Volunteer positions at Lowell National Historical Park are tailored to both the Park's needs and the interests and availability of each volunteer or group. Training and mentoring are provided.

Some volunteer jobs require specific schedules, while others can be done at the volunteer's convenience. Many volunteers work one day a week, while others work nearly full time. Others volunteer as a group for a specific project once a year. The amount of time given is up to the volunteer, as long as it meets the needs of the position selected. Volunteers are needed throughout the year. To volunteer or for more information, call (978) 275-1735.

Exciting Internships at Lowell National Historical Park:

Lowell National Historical Park is a vibrant urban national park that preserves a complex mix of historic structures, landscapes, and canals. Educational and interpretive programs give equal attention to the diverse ethnic cultures that continue to evolve and shape Lowell. The park portrays the story of the Industrial Revolution and its continuing effects on the people of Lowell through two centuries, tying into the current urban culture and economy, while asking questions for the future.

The national park’s professional staff represents a variety of disciplines that provide great opportunities for students and or recent graduates to learn skills and content “on the job” and/or in semi-independent projects. Work that contributes to a student’s academic program and future career plans may be found here at the park in the following areas:

· Youth non-school summer programs for middle and high school students
· Lowell Folk Festival and other events planning and production
· Lowell Summer Music Series production
· Museum education programs at Tsongas Industrial History Center
· Interpretation and visitor services at exhibit sites and on guided tours
· Historic trolley interpretation and related museum operation
· Curatorial program, including artifact collection management and exhibit design
· Historical research
· Oral history
· Grant-writing/fundraising for partnership programs
· Public affairs and marketing
· Community outreach programs
· Volunteer program management
· Architecture, historic preservation, and cultural resources management
· Park administration, planning, and management
· Landscape architecture
· Facility and park maintenance management
· Video and audio-visual program production

The park will work with a candidate to customize an internship or practicum that achieves the student’s goals, as well as fitting the park’s needs and capabilities. Interdisciplinary programs can be designed to gain experience in more than one professional field.

Candidates will apply by submitting a letter of application and a resume. They will be interviewed and evaluated for acceptance into the program. The availability of opportunities in the individual disciplines will vary according to staffing levels and workloads in the park. Stipends from the park are usually not available in this program. For further information or to begin the application process, call Park Volunteer Coordinator Mike Wurm at 978-275-1735 or email him at Mike_Wurm@nps.gov. More information about the park is also available on the internet at www.nps.gov/lowe.

Teacher’s Aides Needed at Tsongas Industrial History Center

Do you love hands-on learning and working with youth? Would you enjoy working with park rangers and professional museum teachers? If you are looking for career experience or would like to resume your career in education, volunteering as a part-time museum teacher’s aide at the Tsongas Industrial History Center could be for you. As a teacher’s aide, you will receive training, work side-by side with professional park rangers and museum teachers, helping give innovative, hands-on school programs. The Tsongas Center, located in the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, is a partnership of the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Lowell National Historical Park. See position description that follows. Volunteers are needed for the busy spring season starting in March. Please respond or apply as soon as possible. For more information, contact Park Volunteer Coordinator Mike Wurm at 978-275-1735 or Mike_Wurm@nps.gov. You may apply by mailing a resume with a letter of application to Mike Wurm, Volunteer Coordinator, Lowell National Historical Park, 67 Kirk Street, Lowell, MA 01852

Museum Teacher’s Aide Position Description
Museum Teacher’s Aides are volunteers who assist Museum Teachers and National Park Rangers at the Tsongas Industrial History Center present educational programs to visiting school groups. Aides help students to learn and perform a variety of hands-on activities in several different Tsongas Center workshops. More specifically, they teach students to weave, perform minor loom maintenance, and instruct students in pre-industrial textile production in one workshop. In another, they help students construct model canals and teach them to perform experiments with water wheels. In another, they act as laboratory assistants in an environmental lab. Aides always work with professional Museum Teachers. The ability to work well with students in grades four through eight is required. Some knowledge of US history is useful, but not required. A commitment to work at least one four-hour day per week is required. Aides are supervised by the Supervisory Park Ranger for Education at Lowell National Historical Park.

Volunteer Application and Instructions (188kb PDF file, requires Free Adobe Acrobat Reader)

2004
October 12 – November 28, 2004

Fall Hours

Exhibit Schedule

Hours of Facility Operation (Daily)
Visitor Center: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Boott Cotton Mills Museum: 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Mill Girl and Immigrant Exhibit: 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Guided Tours
Views of Lowell Tour: 2:30 - 4:00 Daily except for Oct. 24, Nov. 7 and Nov. 21 when we will present Moses Greeley Parker Lecture Series programming.
Please call for more information.

(The park is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day)