Durant & Sholes Docents:

• Provide educational programming.

• Volunteer on select open days and special events throughout the year.

• Occasional opportunity for school tours during the week in the spring and fall.

Contact the Musuem Director to learn more. Email: durantandsholes@ppfv.org

Volunteer at the Durant house and sholes school

Do you have an interest in local history from the 1800s? A desire to share knowledge with the public? Enjoy engaging with children and groups of all ages? Then the 1843 Durant-Peterson House or the 1872 Sholes School might be a perfect volunteer opportunity for you!

At the 1843 Durant-Peterson House, volunteers are trained to share tales of the original farmstead through hands-on history lessons. Learn how the Durant and Peterson families lived on the prairie, how they managed their farms, prepared their meals, raised their families, and survived the harsh life of the early settlers to Kane County.

At the 1872 Sholes School, volunteers dress as teachers from the 1800’s and recreate what a school day was like for the farm families that attended one-room schools in Kane County.  You will teach reading, writing (on slates with slate pencils), and arithmetic, and explain what lunchtime was like and what games were played at recess.  And most visitors also want to know about old-fashioned discipline for unruly students – our volunteers explain that too!

There are many volunteer opportunities including:

• As a docent on public open days, school tours, and at special events

• Demonstrate a special talent or hobby as a way to educate visitors on past arts and crafts such as:

  • Planting and maintaining the Durant vegetable garden

  • Spinning, weaving, knitting, crocheting, and sewing

  • Cooking over an open hearth and with a spider pan or Dutch oven

  • Basket weaving, broom-making, and whittling

  • Making toys like corn husk dolls, marbles, and corn cob darts

• Help plan and promote fundraising events

This is a costumed, living history position; there are a variety of period appropriate costumes available at the museums for you to wear. This truly brings the Durant-Peterson House and the one-room Sholes School to life!

As well as looking for adult volunteers, we have younger (ages 10-18) volunteers as well. They also dress up in period appropriate costumes, learn what life would have been like for children at that time, and help teach visiting groups about the house and engage them by teaching games and how to use toys like stilts.

With a very flexible schedule and wonderful team of educators, our museums offer a great opportunity for people with a passion for the past. We look forward to hearing from you!