In most cases the headline to this post can be written by many/most rail and trolley museums regardless of the equipment they operate or display. Here's an article in a local Minneapolis weekly paper on the Minnesota Streetcar Museum and the fact that many of our operating personnel and shop/track/overhead maintenance people are aging rapidly.
http://www.swjournal.com/index.php?&story=15341&page=152&category=64

The hard copy of the article in the paper had several more photos. All-in-all good pub and maybe we'll get a couple of new volunteers? We can only hope and work our contacts.

Thanks!

I don't have any direct evidence of how much it helps in getting "new blood" into the field of preservation, but events such as Pumpkin Trains, Santa Trains and Day out with Thomas do expose our museums to a "younger demographic".

So that's what 's happening.......I thought I just hung with people who had better taste in music than most young people today.

Special events like our little blue buddy can "hook" very young people, but won't convert them once they discover interactive computer games and other adolescents whose bodies are differently and interestingly constructed.

The common need for appealing to all ages is constant programming that viscerally engages emotionally and intellectually. Fortunately, railroads can do that very well. Unfortunately, not inexpensively or without a lot of infrastructure. We've got a lot of conditioning about history being boring to overcome thanks to schools' methods, which focus on memorizing names, dates, and carboard cutouts of characters doing "great deeds" in a sort of vacuum. Thankfully, there's a lot more material to work with today than when I was a kid (those stone tablets were HEAVY). Check out a newer book called something like "The Imperial Cruise" to gain a real understanding about what led to our foreign adventures leading up to WWII and beyond as a good example, and some real insight into TR.

Technology can be our friend, but it will take some real experts to make it all it can be. I recently discovered a really cool thing I didn't know was a part of mapQuest, which let me view the neighborhood my dad grew up in from my office in 360 degrees. Streets are still cobblestone with trolley tracks on both sides, and real buildings still under the vinyl siding and permastone siding. You can almost get a feel for what it might have been like in the 1920s in Germantown with streetcars and fewer autos. Research tools like this can cross over into personally relevant entertainment. If we can seamlessly tie this stuff into historic imagery and multimedia...........can we use that to get people interested in visiting for a real life time trip? I'd like to think so.

dave

Aren't we all aging? Where's the fountain of youth?
There was a clinic about this topic at the 2008 TRAIN convention. The best I took from that seminar was avoiding the "Hard Knocks" approach where the rookie suffers because "back when I was new I had it hard and I had to shovel with a teaspoon and I had an engineer who took all the steam on a locomotive that fired poorly". It's hard to attract new people if they are looked down upon before you give them a chance.

I joined W&W as a teen back in the early 80's, they have more young people now than when I was that age. They must be doing something right.

Well Chris, if you really wanted youth volenteering at THFM, talk to the employment offices for me. I have tried three times, all unsuccesfully for a position working with trains. Deal? =P

While avoiding any specific regarding Aaron's situation, I cannot emphasize enough:

Take any warm body that offers to help, no matter what you have to do to accommodate him or her.

I had one nonprofit I was working with a while back that had a volunteer that had, at the time, developmental problems related to autism. Socially and physically, he was as inept and awkward at the time as someone inflicted with Down syndrome, but I could see he knew his stuff. I tried to steer him to what turned out to be his true calling, online communications and Internet services. There, since 'on the internet nobody knows you're a dog," he was brilliant and quite serviceable. But others in the group, who only saw a misfit "retard,' blew him off and never let him rise up above "grunt." Eventually, after he got a city government job doing online services/administration, he blew them off, too--and, of course, no one left in the group has the knowledge or inclination to do what he did, and the group has suffered in its online presence ever since.

Model Railroad clubs usually have a somewhat younger membership than Railroad Museums, and the model railroaders are often extremely knowledgable about electrical and electronic topics. Many model railroaders appreciate opportunities to work with operating museum equipment and get closer access to the hardware, systems, and technical information. But getting them interested requires an effective outreach effort and events that appeal to their interests.

PC

I will throw my two cents in. I have read the posting concerning the "aging" volunteer gene pool.

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. Certain museums may have more "youth" then others...but I think many would agree the "youth" factor isn't present within many organizations.

My job has allowed me to visit many different museums, literally in all four points of the U.S. It is offensive how many "volunteers" share their political, religious and general lack of diversity views with the visiting public. I have on more then one occasion been on a tour...(museum will remain un-named)...where they referred to the average Pullman porter as a "darkie". Upon visiting another museum a paid museum employee actually discussed his "religious/racial" purity with a group of "mens-men" standing inside the shop looking around.

Museums might try to understand...that not all participants are going to be perfect W.A.S.P.s...for the un-informed...(W- white, A- anglo, S- saxon, P- protestant). Their members will not all be Christian, Jewish or Catholic...some of them might not care at all. Their members will not all be Republican. Some of their new members might have longer/spikey/stylish hair, piercings, funky tatoos or some other attribute that is less then conservative. But, none of these personal beliefs or choices make them any less able to service and interpret

I wanted to try to define "youth"...but really I can't. It means different things to different people. I am priviledged to have many close friends that are employees of ACTUAL railroads. They are Atheist, Christian, Jewish, Catholic, black, asian, gay, bald w/tatoos, crazy haired/bar hoppin' guys that like dance music and expensive things of taste.

See railroads employ and serve a diverse community. Maybe museums might try to understand that "youth" probably means opening their arms outside the normal box.

Recruit some new blood without bringing your personal lives...however right or left into the picture. It doesn't help steam one engine.

Let's make things difficult say you are a railroad museum with someone with Asperger's or something like that, now said person can drive in fact they drive out of state to said museum and demonstrates they know there stuff. What about any medication they are taking when the FRA shoes up for drug testing will that raise a red flag?

Another thing I would like to point out is how some younger volunteers are treated. One of my online acquaintances who volunteers for Museum A told me how A gentleman from Museum B and his son came to hob-nob with the higher ups at Museum A, one of the higher ups at Museum A decided to let the gentleman's son from Museum B run there live steamer, now my acquaintances had volunteered there for 3 years and never gotten to run the live steamer despite making it known that he would like to but then this kid comes and BAM! he's running the thing.

The development and maintenance of websites is one area where many preservation and historical organizations need help. It is also an activity that can be attractive to younger people who are computer literate. Judging by the situation with several organizations in my area, the need for assistance with websites is quite desperate. Unfortunately I have seen several groups where the "old timers" are unwilling to take this on themselves, but are also opposed to delegating authority to anyone else to run the site and make the necessary changes, possibly fearing that the webmaster will achieve some kind of influence within the organization. So the websites sit there, several years out of date, listing incorrect meeting and event information, or maybe even featuring future events with people who are deceased, until somebody finally forgets to pay the bill for the service and the site is taken down. It is unfortunate to see such a potentially valuable resource sometimes being wasted.

PC

[I'm using an overly broad brush and ignoring some progressive Museums.]
Yes, the founding volunteers are getting older, but they're still semi-active, so there's not much room for the next generation. Delegating authority is synonymous with with giving i away.
One reason officers want to gain and stay in office is reciprocal operating perks at other museums.
Trolley Valhalla about 1970 had the opposite of the "mentally" challenged member. He already was a mid level government official, even though he stuttered. You couldn't tell that when he was on a typewriter, so he was good at answering letters.

Not if it's legal and the FRA inspector and the contractor doing the testing know about it. One of the things that most (if not all) federal drug testing programs require is for the person being tested to state (verbally and on the testing paperwork) whether he/she is taking any medication.

The "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" program brought about 100 new volunteers of all ages to our museum. Though it's too soon to see if we will have repeat volunteers from this group (they only had to volunteer one day to qualify for their Disney pass), it has brought eager hands doing lots of work around the museum site. I hope the program is repeated in future years.