Category: Tours

What Are We Planning for 2024?

And why we need your support to make it happen!

There are only a few days left in 2023, which means you have only a few days left to donate or become a member this year! We are a small organization so a gift of any size – from $5 to $500 – will help immensely. Here are a few highlights for how your gift will help in the year ahead:

  • Heritage Tours: This past year we began hosting tours at Westminster Hall & Burying Ground in addition to our recurring tours at Clifton Mansion, Green Mount Cemetery and in historic neighborhoods around our city. This spring we will be able to return with more robust tours and events, including three new bus tours. Please stay tuned!
  • Five Minute Histories Videos: Our Five Minute Histories series offers a way to connect that in-person programs just can’t. So, don’t worry, these are here to stay, and we’re ramping up for a full year of them in 2024.
  • Critical Preservation Advocacy: This past year we helped fight to preserve architecturally significant rowhouses on Preston Street in Mt. Vernon and several buildings in the Five & Dime Local Historic District near Lexington Market. In 2024, we will continue this work throughout the city, which a special focus on disinvested historic neighborhoods.

 

We need your help today.

 

We at Baltimore Heritage are a little bit unusual. We rely heavily on kind volunteers to make our work possible, and nearly three quarters of our annual operating income comes from gifts from individuals. Most of these gifts are at our basic membership levels of $35 for an individual and $50 for a family. By donating at any level, be assured that your support goes a long way.

So once more for 2023, please accept an enormous thank you to everyone who volunteers with us, comes out for tours and programs (in-person and virtually!), and supports our work by generously donating. We look forward to working with you and connecting with you in the year ahead.

— Johns Hopkins, Baltimore Heritage

Spend Your Holidays with Baltimore Heritage: Upcoming December Tours

The holiday season is upon us and we want to spend it with you! Please check out our upcoming heritage tours to get to know even more about Baltimore’s history this winter season. We hope to see you this month!

Boughs of Holly: A Tour of Evergreen Museum & Library Decked Out for the Holidays

When a tremendous Gilded Age mansion gets fully-adorned with holiday decorations, there’s a lot to see. On Tuesday, December 5, please join us for a special winter tour of the Evergreen Museum and Library, which holds 48 rooms, a soaring portico, a Tiffany designed glass canopy, and loads holiday decorations. Register here!

 

The Baltimore Immigration Museum: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour

On Tuesday, December 19, join Baltimore Heritage at the Baltimore Immigration Museum to hear the stories of the various ethnic groups, including Germans, Irish, Jews, Poles, Lithuanians, Czechs, Italians, and Greeks, who started their American journey in Baltimore between 1830 and 1914. Register here! 

 

Up into the Clockworks at the Bromo Seltzer Tower

On Wednesday, December 27, join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Bromo Seltzer Tower! Completed in 1911, the tower’s four clocks each measure 24 feet across, a foot more London’s Big Ben, and the tower itself was the tallest building in Baltimore at the time. Our tour through the building will include a trip up into the clockworks at the top to look at the tick-tock operation in process and peer out the translucent windows. Register here! 

 

Our 2023 Preservation Celebration

Finally, with Thanksgiving just behind us, we at Baltimore Heritage have a lot to be thankful for, starting with the kind volunteers who lead our tours, research and write about historic places for Explore Baltimore Heritage, join us in fighting for threatened historic landmarks, and so much more. You make our work possible. Thank you all!

— Johns Hopkins, Executive Director

PS: It’s the time of year when we both give thanks and look forward to the year ahead. It is also the time of year when we ask you to join or renew your membership support for Baltimore Heritage. Your gift makes our work possible.

Save the Date: October 19 is our Preservation Celebration 2023!

Save the date! On Thursday, October 19, Baltimore Heritage will be hosting its Preservation Celebration 2023 in the evening (location tbd). At this event, we’ll honor our 2023 Preservation Award winners and, with your help, give out four microgrants to people working on the front lines in our historic neighborhoods. We’ll say thank you to our volunteers and honor all of their hard work this year. This gathering also acts as Baltimore Heritage’s annual meeting where the board will elect its new members. Tickets will be a suggested donation of $25.

Check back in the coming weeks for more information. We hope you’ll join us on October 19!

Job Opportunity: Contractual Heritage Tour Coordinator

We’re looking for a Contractual Heritage Tour Coordinator to join us in our work to preserve and promote Baltimore’s historic places. Below is description of the position and how to apply. The application deadline is August 15, 2023.

Pay & Benefits: $15,000 for a one year position, 12 hours per week (flexible with some weekends required)

Applications Due: August 15, 2023

Start Date: September 11, 2023

 

Position Description

Baltimore Heritage is seeking a 12-hour per week contractual assistant to help with the organization’s heritage tour programs. The Tour Coordinator has three primary responsibilities: coordinating the organization’s public tours and private group tours; conducting outreach about the tours through Baltimore Heritage’s website and social media channels; and assisting Baltimore Heritage grow its tours program by editing tours and training new tour guides.

This is a 12-hour per week contractual position that does not include benefits. The position is fully funded for one year. Baltimore Heritage expects to secure funding to extend the position for at least one additional year. However, the current commitment is for only one year from the start date. The assistant will report to Baltimore Heritage’s deputy director, Molly Ricks. Work hours are flexible and may be done at home or in the organization’s office. The position requires attending some tours on weekends and weekday evenings.

Position Responsibilities:

Scheduling and Coordinating

  • Plan and schedule public tours
  • Create tour guide schedule
  • Check in with venue (if applicable) and guides weekly
  • Coordinate and answer tour registrant questions 
  • Schedule & coordinate private group tours 
  • Send out post-tour surveys 

Outreach  

  • Create tour announcements for website (CiviCRM & WordPress)
  • Publicize tours across media outlets (social media & newspapers)
  • Occasionally create new tours
  • Edit and update tour scripts 

Growth

  • Help recruit and train new volunteer tour guides and tour helpers 
  • Attend tours of new guides

Qualification and Skill Requirements

  • High school diploma
  • Very strong organizational and communication skills 
  • Familiarity with Google Suites (Docs, Slides, Sheets)
  • Familiarity with main social media platforms
  • Concern for Baltimore City and its history, heritage, architecture, and people
  • Commitment to sharing a wide diversity of heritage and history

To Apply

  • Send cover letter, resume, and short (500 words or less) statement of interest in this position via email to Molly Ricks: ricks@baltimoreheritage.org
  • For questions, contact Molly Ricks at 240-305-3984 or ricks@baltimoreheritage.org. 
  • We value a diverse workplace and strongly encourage women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, and veterans to apply.

About Baltimore Heritage 

Baltimore Heritage is a city-wide non-profit historic preservation organization. Founded in 1960, it has two-full time staff positions, a 25 member board of directors, and dozens of volunteers. Baltimore Heritage operates in three primary areas: preservation advocacy for historic buildings and neighborhoods; education programs including an expansive Heritage Tours Program; and technical assistance to homeowners and building owners working to restore their historic buildings. Since March of 2020, the organization has produced over 250 short “Five Minute Histories” videos.