Job Opportunities: Living History Interpreters/Demonstrators

The Tobacco Farm Life Museum is hiring several living history interpreters/demonstrators for a new Living History Program to begin in the spring of 2022. We are looking for energetic, personable people with a passion for sharing history with others. Training and education in the specific history and demonstration activities will be provided; however, prior interpretive experience or knowledge of a historical trade/task/craft is a plus! For a few activities, such as blacksmithing, fabric arts, and historical cooking, prior experience is required.

The Living History Program will take place on Saturdays from March through October from 10 am to 2 pm with interpreters expected on site at the Tobacco Farm Life Museum from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm each Saturday. Interpreters would be expected to work several Saturdays with flexibility in rotating with other interpreters. We are looking for interpreters who can make weekly, monthly, or quarterly time commitments. Training may begin in January 2022, but will take place primarily in February and March 2022.

Living history interpreters will present historical information about the time period from around 1900 through the 1930s and demonstrate a historic task, trade, or craft for visitors to the Tobacco Farm Life Museum. Most demonstration and interpreting will take place outside or inside the museum’s historic and reproduction buildings which do not have HVAC. Interpreters will be responsible for setting up the materials needed for their demonstrations as well as clean up each day.

Required Skills/Experience

-Public speaking - Comfort and skill with speaking with the public including people from a wide variety of backgrounds, ages, and knowledge levels

-Interest in history, particularly the history of agriculture and farm life in the period between 1900 and 1930

-Demonstrated experience working with the public and providing satisfactory customer service

-Ability and willingness to learn about the time period and activity being interpreted/demonstrated (study materials and training will be provided)

-Must be comfortable working outdoors or in historic buildings

-Must be willing to wear period attire (which will be provided to you)

Preferred Skills/Experience

-Experience interpreting history to the public

-Experience working in a museum or historic site setting

-Experience with one of the trades/crafts/tasks to be interpreted (below)

-Coursework in history at the college level

Specific Possible Trades/Tasks/Crafts to be Demonstrated/Interpreted

-Blacksmithing*

-Teaching in one-room schoolhouse

-Homestead chores (butter churning, sweeping yard, candlemaking, etc.)

-Cooking*

-Farming/Gardening (working in row crop garden, tying and stringing demonstrations, etc.)

-Fabric Arts* (sewing, quilting, etc.)

-Traditional Woodworking*

*Requires some existing knowledge and skill for safety and quality control reasons.

Pay: $10-17/hour depending on experience and qualifications

To apply, send a letter of interest and resume to project director, Beth Nevarez, at bethn@tobaccofarmlifemuseum.org.

Applications are due by January 14, 2022.

Funding for the Living History Program is provided through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: NEH Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (#SHARP).