The Interpretive Guide plays an integral part in promoting the Museum’s educational mission. Guides are responsible for providing artifact-driven tours of the Erie Maritime Museum to Museum visitors interested in learning more about Erie, Pennsylvania’s rich maritime heritage. In addition, they will lead tours of the U.S. Brig Niagara – a reconstructed version of Oliver Hazard Perry’s relief flagship in the Battle of Lake Erie. Intensive guide training will be provided by the Museum Educator as directed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Typical duties include:

Offer guests personal tours of the Erie Maritime Museum, centered on key artifacts, stories, and references to our permanent exhibits.

Deliver well-planned tours of U.S. Brig Niagara to all visitors to the Maritime Museum.

Guarantee that all information provided on tours is accurately presented. This is done through continuous research of Museum collections, exhibits, and content to ensure a thorough understanding of the institution's mission and story.

Kindly greet and welcome visitors to the Museum, informing them of our offerings, and daily programs (should there be any on the schedule).

Conducting educational demonstrations, such as, the Maritime Museum's Battlestations! (hands-on) learning stations, gun drills, sail handling, and so much more.

Assisting with overall crowd flow.

Maintaining a safe atmosphere for patrons, staff, and volunteers alike.

As a collections and exhibits volunteer, you will work with a member of our professional team to ensure our collections are preserved for future generations of visitors.

Typical duties include:

Assist with the creation of baseline records for new acquisitions, including assessing conditions, describing physical characteristics, recording accurate dimensions, and capturing photographs.

Work with Museum staff to prepare for exhibitions.

Assist the Curator with scanning and digitizing archival materials.

Perform other related duties as required.

Ship Maintenance Volunteers work alongside full-time and part-time staff to provide preventative maintenance of U.S. Brig Niagara.

Typical tasks include, but are not limited to:

Restore and repair masts, yards, blocks, sails, and more.

In addition to learning valuable skills, you will be trained to properly handle and maintain parts of the ship via scraping, sanding, varnishing, painting, etc., as directed by Brig Niagara's Shipwright.

For those with an extensive background in carpentry skills, you may be asked to assist the Shipwright in the Carpentry Shop.

Considerable volunteer training will be provided by Museum and Ship staff annually.

Please Note: Some work must be done aloft, for this, aloft/fall prevention training must be completed. If you want to work aloft, this is non-negotiable. Please inquire for details.

Volunteer to sail aboard the U.S. Brig Niagara as a volunteer crew member. Inquire within!

The Erie Maritime Museum & U.S. Brig Niagara Outdoor Projects volunteer will assist museum staff with maintaining our outdoor plaza through special projects on a rolling basis.

Examples of these projects include:

De-weeding around the outdoor plaza, flower beds, and our native garden on the outer rim of the plaza.

Cleaning and organizing the lawn area.

Raking leaves.

Ensure the plaza is free of obstacles and trash.

The Erie Maritime Museum is looking to rebuild our living history program! Interested parties, please inquire with the Educator at chajohnso@pa.gov.

We are looking for the following periods, in particular:

War of 1812

American Civil War

Spanish-American War

World War I

Homefront - WWI and WWII

The Erie Maritime Museum & U.S. Brig Niagara has an extensive library meant to aid in research and continuous learning for volunteers and researchers alike.

As a Library Volunteer, you will assist in the overall management of the Maritime Museum library.

Tasking includes but is not limited to:

Assist with cleaning the library

Tracking of checked-out books, ensuring prompt return, and limiting overdue books.

Help Museum staff with cataloging new donations and maintaining our database.

Return books back to their proper locations on the shelf.