We invite you to experience Houston's vibrant history by volunteering your time with us. There are a variety of volunteer opportunities available year-round. The time commitment is a minimum of two three-hour weekday shifts or one weekend shift per month.

We ask that Volunteers sign-up through Volunteer Houston to start the process. If you have any questions, please contact educationoutreach@heritagesociety.org

Tour Guides

As a Tour Guide, you will share the history of the structures in Sam Houston Park with visitors from around the world by providing tours of the historic structures. This rewarding program allows you to increase your knowledge of local history and develop new friendships. Tour Guide training prepares you to discuss Houston and Texas history as well as the decorative arts and lifestyles represented in the structures.

Children’s Educators

This position is similar to the tour guide position, except that your main focus will be on giving tours to school groups. This position is perfect for people who work with children often, especially in an educational setting. Children’s Educators do not need to know all the houses as there are specific ones included in our curriculum for different age groups. We mostly handle kids from kindergarten to eighth grade. Children’s educators are also asked to help with girl and boy scout badge workshops, which allow for more one on one time with children and more activity oriented learning.

Media Designers

Are you tech-savvy and like to help behind the scenes for live media events? If you are a pro at optimizing the use of your cell phone apps, have social media experience, and know traditional media, then we could use your talents here!  Behind-the-scenes duties include setting up the set, running errands, breaking down the set, meeting guests, and assisting a show host before, during, and after a show.  All our events are in Downtown Houston, and our museum has free parking.

Librarians

The initial project will be to collect uniform data on all books in The Heritage Society’s possession and enter that data into the THS collections database. Volunteers will get information regarding museum registration methods – including learning to accession, label and properly handle and store an artifact. Other aspects of the position include relieving overcrowding in shelving, occasional monitoring and assisting researchers, minor research, numbering, minor conservation and archival document processing.

Collections Caretakers

These volunteers get to work hands-on with real historic artifacts. Their duties include organizing the archives, cataloguing artifacts that are not accessioned, and checking that previous artifact records are correct. This may also entail conducting your own research on specific items if information is missing. This position is perfect for preservation-minded folks.

Museum Guides

Museum Guides are the ambassadors of the Heritage Society. They welcome and direct museum visitors and provide information regarding both permanent and changing exhibits. You’ll learn a variety of historical information as our temporary exhibits change three to four times a year. Our permanent exhibits include the Duncan General Store and the Ford Model-T.

Outreach Program Representatives

Bring Houston’s history alive for people who cannot personally visit the park. Outreach programs include children’s trunk shows and presentations about local history, architecture, customs, and people. We also have an educational booth program that brings booths on different aspects of Houston history to events at other organizations.

Special Event Volunteers

Volunteers are needed for a variety of special events, programs, and activities. This includes Scout Badge Workshops, culture and art festivals in Sam Houston Park and on Bagby Street, Juneteenth celebration, Pups & Pints Oktoberfest, City Lights Holiday Magic Bus Tours, and Annual Candlelight Tours. Volunteer calls for special events happen over email about a month prior to the event. Because these opportunities happen less often, special event volunteers are only required to volunteer at four events a year to stay on the active roster.

Curator’s Assistants

To create an exhibit, curators have to choose which artifacts to include in the display. Our collections house over 23,000 objects, which is a lot to sort through! The curatorial staff can always use help choosing specific artifacts to tell stories about the past. Considerations for choosing artifacts include the relevancy to the exhibit narrative, fragility, display possibilities, and more.

OTHER WAYS TO APPLY

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, complete the Volunteer Application and send it to Volunteer@heritagesociety.org. For more information about volunteer opportunities, call 713-655-1912.