Volunteer

If you want to learn about nature, you enjoy talking to people, and you’re looking for enriching ways to volunteer your time, this opportunity is perfect for you!

Join the Yale Peabody Museum’s Volunteer Program and contribute to our mission to inspire and engage our visitors with a lifetime of learning. Connect with other natural history enthusiasts, share your knowledge, and become a part of our welcoming community of explorers.

Yale Peabody volunteers are an essential and valued part of the Museum’s operation, providing daily support at our one-of-a-kind, newly conceived Living Lab. As a Peabody volunteer you will not only have the opportunity to see how a major natural history Museum creates a remarkable experience, but you’ll also play a special role by helping visitors discover something new each time they visit the Living Lab.

Our new Living Lab—the reimagined version of our former and beloved Discovery Room—is a space where visitors can make their own connections with our exhibits.

As a Peabody Volunteer you will learn and become a knowledgeable expert of exciting new objects as well as beloved old relics. The variety of objects, and the rich variety of stories that they can be used to tell, will make the space a rewarding and exciting space to work.

Our volunteers will also enjoy the following programs:

  • A multi-day training workshop with science education professionals, a variety of Peabody collections managers and curators, DEAI experts, and select Peabody staff to learn about the renovated Museum and its current exhibitions.
  • A variety of enrichment programs such talks by subject experts and curators about items in our collections.
  • Exclusive sneak peeks of new objects and temporary exhibits.
  • Behind the scenes tours of the Museum’s preparation labs.

The Lab’s assortment of live animals, many of which represent curatorial research at Yale, include freshwater fishes from the eastern United States and semi-tropical anole lizards from Florida and the Caribbean. Other animals at the Lab, like the Eastern Indigo Snake, our poison dart frogs, and tropical butterflies, have important conservation stories to tell about environmental threats in a human-dominated world.

The Living Lab is home to a cornucopia of specimens. You’ll see examples from all 10 of the Museum’s curated collections arranged in exciting, artful displays in new wall cabinets. Experience touchable real specimens, some rare, in drawers and cubbies, and on mobile guided activity carts, each with a fascinating story. The Living Lab is a highlight of any visit to the Peabody Museum.

For more information, please contact:

Peabody Volunteer Department
+1 203 432 3731 peabody.volunteers@yale.edu