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Volunteer Opportunities

If you are interested in any of these volunteer opportunities, please contact Dawn Kaufmann, educator, at 476-1271 more information! There is an opportunity and need for every interest.

  • Education:
    The Living Traditions Educational Program provides the opportunity for volunteers and docents to assist in the school tour program through preparation of curriculum and materials for the outreach, and museum tour hands-on activities. Docents are trained to guide students through the museum exhibits, providing unique tours to the youth visitors. Docents and volunteers also work with students in the classroom and outdoors doing hands-on activities, as well as special educational yearly events such as Sun Mountain Gathering and Winter Feast. Volunteers are needed Tuesday through Fridays and occasionally weekends.
  • Docent Training Program:
    Docents are an essential and sustaining part of the Museum, and indeed serve as the public face of the Museum for our visitors from around the state and around the world. We rely on our docents to give guided tours, to help with our hands-on classroom activities and outreach visits, and to participate in our fundraising and special events for the public.

    We are offering our next  Docent Training Class tin the fall of 2009. Docent training will be led by the docent coordinator, other museum staff, guest artists and speakers, tribal representatives, with panel discussions, and studio tours as well as other fieldtrips. The class will take place at the Museum once a week on Monday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. The training class is about seven months long. Docent training is considered similar in scope and commitment to a college level course. Following successful training as a docent, we ask that you be able to commit to serving two years as a docent. For more information please contact Dawn Kaufmann, Docent Coordinator and Educator, at 476-1271.
  • Museum Gift Shop:
    The Colleen Cloney Duncan Museum Shop reflects the collections of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and is a unique shopping experience. The shop provides visitors with a wide array of contemporary Native arts—ceramics, sculpture, textiles, jewelry, kachina dolls, works on paper, and baskets—along with clothing and an extensive selection of popular and scholarly books on Native cultures.

    Volunteers are needed to help with retail sales and general shop needs.
  • Finance Office and General Office Assistance:
    Volunteers are needed for basic help in finance with Xeroxing, data entry, and filing, mailings.
  • Laboratory of Anthropology Archives:
    The Archives of the Laboratory of Anthropology, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture contains the institutional documents and negatives of work at the Lab. Collections contain original correspondence, daily files, reports, photos, negative, slides, maps, postcards, certificates, object descriptions, speeches, diaries, drawings, architectural plans, scrapbooks, and other records.

    Archives volunteering is "a window to a different time." If you like history, photography, archaeology, anthropology, research, or information technology, please visit the Archives. You can learn how to preserve original one-of-a-kind images and papers.

    Volunteers tasks include: After gaining experience, under the supervision of the Archivist, provide reference services: Volunteers can come in once a month for 3-4 hours or each week. The Archives are open Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesday mornings, and Thursdays. We will provide training in handling archival material.
    • Photocopy newspaper clippings (1915-1970)
    • Label and inventory materials in collection
    • Re-house and re-label archival materials
    • Data entry
    • Assist with preservation of archival materials
    • Update physical location of archival materials
    • Assist in grant writing for the Archives
    • Office assistant
    • Locate and access material for researchers
    • Answer telephone and email requests
    • Locate or re-file material
    • Identify preservation issues
  • Laboratory of Anthropology Library:
    The Laboratory of Anthropology maintains an extensive research Library and Archives. The museum has a 25,000 volume non-circulating special research library, computer catalogued and available to the public and researchers in the library or on-line via OCLC. The library specializes in the southwestern American Indian cultures from earliest times to the contemporary. We are looking for people willing to shelve books (knowledge of Dewey Decimal system necessary) as well as repair books and periodicals, check-in journals, indexing projects and assist patrons. We also need volunteers to help organize and run the annual Book Sale Fundraiser held this year November 8 and 9. Tasks include sorting donations and pricing books, cash handling, supervising booksale areas. Special projects may include placing leftover donated items on Ebay or other online listing (Amazon.com or Abebooks, etc.), book weeding projects, or updating/cleaning up catalog database. Volunteer hours are available from 8:30 am - 4:30pm Monday - Friday, except during the booksale weekend  when we will need volunteers Saturday and Sunday.
  • Archaeological Research Collections (ARC):
    The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture will be moving its archaeological collections to a new repository at the Center for New Mexico Archaeology in a couple of years, and the Archaeological Research Collections staff is looking for some individuals to lend a hand to prepare for this big move of approximately 10 million objects.

    Volunteers are needed for various and sundry tasks such as compiling or checking inventories, and re-housing and re-boxing artifacts. These tasks will require attention to detail and a tolerance for repetitive tasks. They may also involve some heavy lifting of boxes of 30-40 lbs, and working in very dusty areas. Volunteers will be part of a team, working during one day per week (likely Wednesday or Thursday), in either a morning or afternoon shift (9 am – Noon or 1 to 4 pm).
  • Archaeological Records Management Section (ARMS):
    The Archaeological Records Management Section (ARMS) of the Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Cultural Affairs maintains a statewide repository of archaeological records for purposes of cultural resource management and research. Working in conjunction with numerous state and federal land managing agencies such as the State Land Office, and Bureau of Land Management field offices, access to archaeological records and survey documentation, either in paper or electronic form through the New Mexico Cultural Resource Information System (NMCRIS) is determined by the registrar as mandated by law through the New Mexico Cultural Properties Review Committee (CPRC).

    Volunteers are essential to the operation of ARMS due to chronic understaffing and the need to deal with massive amounts of new material received on a regular basis. Volunteers should have an interest in the archaeology of New Mexico, willing to process paper records, enjoy detail work, and have clear readable handwriting. A willingness to learn new software applications is a plus.

    Tasks include: Volunteers are preferred Tuesdays, a.m. or p.m. up until 4pm. Other possible days for volunteering are Monday, Thursday, and Friday. For more information please contact: Louanna (Lou) Haecker at 505-476-1280 or louanna.haecker@state.nm.us or drop by ARMS is located at the Laboratory of Anthropology on Museum Hill, Santa Fe.
    • filing maps
    • housing photographs
    • record keeping
    • record maintenance

Volunteer needs also include special fundraiser events such as

  • Native Treasures Indian Arts Festival
  • MIAC Native Gardens and the Avanyu Trail with replicas of Historic and Prehistoric structures
  • Information line and Reception Desk.

For more please information contact Dawn Kaufmann, educator and docent coordinator, 476-1271 or dawn.kaufmann@state.nm.us