Be Part of OMM’s Volunteer Corps
By becoming part of the Oregon Military Museum (OMM) Volunteer Corps, you are helping OMM honor, share, and preserve Oregon’s military heritage and legacy.
OMM is excited to offer a range of volunteer opportunities to match your needs, interests, experience, and knowledge. Not familiar with Oregon’s military history? No problem! Not sure how your interest and skills might match with OMM volunteer opportunities? No worries!
Check out our varied Volunteer Opportunities part of our three main volunteer groups — Visitor Services, Restoration Shop, and Library & Collections.
To join the OMM Volunteer Corps, fill out the OMM Volunteer Application Form. Our Volunteer Coordinator will then follow up with an interview to go over your volunteer interests and availability, as well as set up a volunteer background check.
You are on your way to being part of the OMM Volunteer Corps. We’re excited to have you be a part of the team!
Email [email protected] if you have any questions.
An excerpt from our 2024 Fall Newsletter:
Volunteers Move OMM Forward
The OMM Volunteer Corps is primarily organized into three groups: Library & Collections, Restoration Shop, and Visitor Services. While many of our volunteers take part in more than one, each group has its own character, focus, and projects which are helping to strengthen and support the Museum.
Library & Collections volunteers have led the charge in organizing and digitizing images from our photo collection which has significantly impacted what we will be including in the upcoming gallery exhibits. Other volunteers, having now unpacked the majority of the library books, are helping to select books to fill the Library’s reading room, while also continuing to unpack and prepare our extensive collection of training and field manuals. A select group of volunteers are assisting in a detailed inventory update of the archives’ paper holdings in order to expand accessibility of the collection for research and educational programming. In the coming months, this corps of volunteers will be helping to prepare artifacts for display, from vacuuming to numbering. As we continue to prepare for exhibits, build our educational resources, and make our collections more accessible, volunteer assistance is an invaluable asset in making all this possible.
The Restoration Shop corps include some of our longest serving volunteers — some of these men helped to close the Museum in 2008, and a few were even part of the ORNG detachment unit initially assigned to provide care and restoration of the military vehicles and artillery pieces in the collection. Additional volunteers have since been added, expanding the pool of craftmanship and unique skillsets from mechanics and maintenance to upholstery and fabrication. Presently, these volunteers have begun to move the “macros”, large artillery and vehicles, into place in preparation for exhibit installation, as well as prepare mounts and other equipment necessary for their display. These volunteers have also been instrumental in having vehicles out as part of our monthly Boots to Wheels series and additional programs, as well as serving as subject matter experts for exhibit interpretation content.
Visitor Services volunteers are our most public facing corps, often the first people visitors interact and engage with while at the Museum. Whether attending the Historic Park or open gallery, leading tours, assisting in youth and education programs, helping to build interpretive content for exhibits or educational materials, assisting at events, or providing additional visitor services support, these volunteers are true museum ambassadors. Some are veterans, some have family connections, some love history, some have a love for the military, and some love museums — each volunteer has a unique story and reason for being part of this corps. When OMM fully opens its galleries and extended facilities in 2025, OMM will need to triple the number of Visitor Services volunteers if we want to be open to the public weekly Wednesday – Saturday. Whether weekly, monthly, or only for part of the calendar year, please consider volunteering at OMM. We really cannot open the Museum to the public without you!
Sign up early to volunteer and be ready for the Museum’s opening in 2025.