Volunteering
New volunteers are always welcome!
Elgin Museum is an independent museum, and is heavily dependent on the work of its volunteers. All of us involved in running the Museum are volunteers, apart from our part-time Museum Assistant (Monday – Tuesday, and Wednesday morning). From time to time, through external grant funding, we are able to employ additional staff for specific projects. At present we are unable to afford a Museum Curator, however we receive support from our Museum Mentor, Doug MacBeath (curator of the Museum on the Mound, in Edinburgh).
We are always keen to welcome new volunteers. Please contact us by email or call in for a chat to see if you think this is likely to be the right volunteering opportunity for you.
More details can be found on the Elgin Museum Volunteer Application Form and Agreement (pdf 118KB) – please read both sides of the form.
Unfortunately, at this time, we are unable able to accommodate volunteers who are under-18.
Some of the tasks carried out by our volunteers:
During the “open season”
Front of house duties, meeting and greeting visitors and operating the small shop. For the Museum to be open to the public, we need four volunteers on duty for each session. Training and support are given, but no special skills are needed other than reliability, an interest in the Museum and in communicating with the public.
Throughout the year
Collections care – cataloguing, checking and photographing of museum objects in the stores, rearranging temporary displays.
Research – to answer queries about the collections, or for interpretation of displays.
Events – help with school visits, family activities and other events.
Administrative activities – to keep the show on the road including filing, web administration, publicity and fundraising.
Training:
Each year we hold training sessions for new volunteers and as updates for our regulars. New volunteers throughout the year receive training on an individual basis, and work as supernumeraries until confident to be on duty in their own right. In addition to in-house induction and training, volunteers are encouraged to take advantage of external training opportunities, to develop new skills and meet other volunteers in the museum world.
For more information on the roles and responsibilities of volunteers, please see the Elgin Museum Handbook 2024 (pdf 260KB).
