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San Mateo County History Museum Recruiting Volunteer Docents
Woodside Store docents left to right: Jim Kelly, Kathy Kliebe and Jim Wagner.
By Janet McGovern For three Sundays every month, Carmen Blair doesn’t have to worry about who’s minding the Woodside Store. Three reliable volunteers show up to open the rustic museum site for their docent shifts and close up after the last visitors leave. But for that fourth Sunday? Blair, who is the San Mateo County Historical Association’s deputy director, doesn’t have another regular volunteer to plug into that vacant date, which means she has to deploy paid staff. “I can do that,” she says, but the volunteers bring their own interest and knowledge of local history, enthusiasm— and even friends to visit. “So it’s just not the same. My staff is wonderful but it brings a new dimension to have the volunteers interpreting the site one day a week as well.” The association operates the history museum in downtown Redwood City plus two sites—the Gold Rush-era Woodside Store at 3300 Tripp Road; and the Sanchez Adobe in Pacifica, the county’s second oldest building, dating from 1786. (An adobe
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on private property is older.) Association employees cover most of the hours on weekdays and weekends when the three locations are open. By volunteering, the docents and “gallery monitors” who take other weekend slots or help at big events expand the museum’s staffing capabilities. Coming off of two years of Covid and prolonged closures of all three locations, the association needs to rebuild the ranks of both docents and the gallery monitors (the monitors don’t lead tours but can help direct visitors between galleries or toward interactive exhibits). Some of the docents at the history museum conduct adult tours, but others help with visits of school children, from grades 1 to 4. Pre-pandemic, Blair says, she could call on 12 to 14 gallery monitors on a big event day, plus five docents leading tours. “Currently, our gallery numbers are much smaller,” Blair says. She only has one volunteer docent for the museum tours. Why A Shortage Some volunteers are still uncomfortable being around crowds, even wearing
masks. Some, says Blair, are now taking care of grandchildren. Some have moved from the area, and others are dealing with illness. Docents are often seniors or retirees, who are also two years older than when the pandemic arrived. Sanchez Adobe is open weekdays but uses volunteers both Saturdays and Sundays. The historic site has an interpretive center in addition to the two-story adobe, so twice as many people are needed, says Blair, who picked up some new volunteers after an orientation in October. More are needed, but the shortfall is especially acute at the Woodside Store, where three retirees are largely holding the fort. A couple of others fill in when they are able to or help at special events, according to Blair. Jim Kelly of San Mateo and Jim Wagner of Foster City have been volunteering there for decades. Each takes one shift a month (noon to 4 p.m.), and when there’s a fifth Sunday, they split it. Kathy Klebe of Redwood City, who is also president of the Historic Union Cemetery Association, covers another Sunday. All three enjoy serving as docents—greeting visitors and
