HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWS RELEASE

With tourist season in full swing, Los Alamos Historical Society (LAHS) and its History Museum are seeking new volunteers for a variety of positions. Training sessions focusing on the community’s history and historic district will be offered from 4–5:15 p.m. on Wednesdays in October and November (Oct. 12, 19, and 26, and Nov. 2, 9 and 16). Participants will gather in the Fuller Lodge lobby at 4 p.m. each Wednesday.

Training comprises presentations on Los Alamos and the Pajarito Plateau, covering the Ancestral Puebloans, the homestead era, the Los Alamos Ranch School, the Manhattan Project, and post-war Los Alamos. The sessions also emphasize visitor engagement and customer service. The series is open to the public, registration is not required, and anyone high-school age and up is encouraged to attend.

This training is part of the Historical Society’s volunteer certification program, through which volunteers learn how to serve as docents in the Museum Shop and the historic Hans Bethe House, as tour guides, or as guides to the homestead-era Romero Cabin. 

Docents in the Los Alamos History Museum work one to four shifts a month; shifts are two or four hours. Tasks include greeting and orienting visitors, answering questions about Los Alamos history and the community, and overseeing sales in the Museum Shop. Those working in the Hans Bethe House explain the community’s post-war history through the Harold Agnew Cold War Gallery, while Romero Cabin docents share the community’s homestead history. Tour guides lead guests on 1.5-hour tours featuring a stop inside the homestead-era Romero Cabin, a visit to an ancestral pueblo site, and stories about the Manhattan Project as well as post-war Los Alamos.

Volunteers also work in LAHS’ Archive and Collections (A&C) department, and, although their A&C orientation is very specific, it is also beneficial for them to attend these sessions to enhance their knowledge of community and regional history.  

For more information, please email Jennifer Armstrong, Volunteer Coordinator, at volunteers@losalamoshistory.org.