McMinnville Black History Museum Looking For Volunteers

McMinnville’s Black History Museum is currently looking for volunteers to help in the facility’s growth.

Founder and Curator Wayne Wolford Sr. said the extra help is needed as the museum has continued to grow fast. Wolford said the large amounts of detailed work needed to keep a museum running can take up a lot of his time. Wolford said the museum is especially looking for people who are retired, going to school, and younger people.

“We’re not putting any pressure on them for how much time they spend with us,” Wolford said. “Especially if I can get more of the students to come through and a lot of the students as far as college and high school have to have credits.”

Wolford said that students who commit to volunteer work will be offered credits towards their school by the museum. Wolford said he would also like to see students volunteer and learn the history the museum has to offer.

“It’s doing great right now, we’re getting grants and everything else right now,” Wolford said.

Wolford said he used to be the director before hiring another person to focus solely on curating the museum.

“It helps me out tremendously,” Wolford said. “Because it’s a little bit more pressure on me, the director takes care of the emails, all the other important work toward running the museum. But my portion as far as the curator is to try to make sure the tours and the rooms are up to snuff.”

Wolford said he has been talking with other museums in Tennessee who have been advising on how to run a museum. Wolford said that one of his biggest problems right now is finding storage for all of the items that have been donated or leased to his museum.