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46 people are interested
Weekend Museum Volunteer
ORGANIZATION: The Field House Museum
Please visit the new page to apply.
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46 people are interested
The Field House Museum is looking for weekend volunteers, Saturdays and Sundays, to help with giving tours, attending the Museum's gift shop, and guest check-in. Saturday the Museum is open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and Sundays from noon to 4:00 pm. We have flexible hours and are willing to work with you on scheduling whether it's a full day or just a few hours.
Volunteers receive free admission, parking, and a discount in our gift shop.
Please note, that we recommend individuals be available once a week in order to complete docent training by shadowing tours. Once you feel comfortable you will be leading your own tours with a docent manual for reference. Because of the training and time commitment involved, we are looking for individuals willing to commit to several months of volunteering.
Museum Background: The Field House Museum is the first historic house museum in St. Louis. Built in 1845, this home was originally one of twelve row houses on the block. This particular unit belonged to Roswell Field, an attorney on the Dred Scott case whose philosophical thinking propelled the case to the United States Supreme Court. The year Roswell moved in with his wife Frances they had a baby boy, Eugene Field. It was because of Eugene that the house was saved in the 1930s. Eugene became very well known as a newspaper columnist and children's poet. Eugene also collected toys during his lifetime, which eventually led to the museum collecting toys in his honor. Today we talk about Roswell's involvement in the Dred Scott case, Eugene Field's lifetime accomplishments, and our collection of toys.
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About The Field House Museum
Location:
634 South Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63102, US
Mission Statement
The Trustees of The Field House Museum have as their mission the preservation, maintenance, interpretation, and promotion of The Field House Museum as an historic property and museum, with four objectives. 1. To inform the general public about the life, works, and times of Eugene Field, the "Children's Poet," and the creator of the personal column in daily newspapers. 2. To preserve the childhood home of Eugene Field and to display Field family memorabilia and other period artifacts in a nineteenth-century domestic setting. 3. To educate visitors about Eugene Field's father, Roswell Martin Field, who served as Dred Scott's attorney when he sued for his family's freedom in 1853 in a building at Second and Papin Streets, thereby playing a major role in the events leading to the landmark Supreme Court decision affecting all African-Americans. 4. To collect and exhibit toys as an outgrowth of Eugene Field's abiding interest in collecting children's toys and dolls.
Description
The Field House Museum was the boyhood home of Eugene Field, who is beloved to this day as the "Children's Poet" and widely known as the "Father of the Personal Newspaper Column". The museum is also known as the home of Eugene's father, Roswell Martin Field, a well-known attorney. In 1853 he served as the attorney for the slaves Dred and Harriet Scott and their daughters, Eliza and Lizzy, when they brought action in federal court for their freedom. In 1934, when the home was scheduled for demolition, Irving Dilliard wrote a spirited editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch decrying the destruction of Eugene Field's birthplace. Jesse Powell Henry and Carl Peyton Daniel, Sr. , formed a committee to save the house, and the Board of Education took possession, preserving the home. In 1935 and 1936, during the Great Depression, school children in the St. Louis Public Schools collected nearly $2,000 to help the Eugene Field House. It was restored and opened as a museum in December of 1936, and to this day, school groups from the public schools of the city of St. Louis are admitted free. In 1968, the Board of Education gave up active operation of the museum, which is now professionally operated under the supervision of the Board of Trustees of the Eugene Field House Foundation, Inc. Since 1999, the house has been under a complete renovation and restoration of both the exterior and interior.
CAUSE AREAS
WHEN
WHERE
634 South BroadwaySt. Louis, MO 63102
DATE POSTED
April 17, 2024
SKILLS
- Office Reception
- Customer Service
- Data Entry
- Basic Computer Skills
- Microsoft Office Suite
GOOD FOR
N/A
REQUIREMENTS
- Background Check
- Must be at least 18
- Ideally volunteers will be able to do one day a week.