Category: Tours

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.

June 17: Baltimore’s Marble Hill–How A Neighborhood Shaped the Civil Rights Movement

On June 17, please join us for a guided tour of Baltimore’s Marble Hill neighborhood, which was the home to an astonishing amount of groundbreaking Civil Rights leaders. Reverend Harvey Johnson began one of the first collective action movements here in the 1880s. In the 1930s Lillie Carroll Jackson engaged youth in “The Movement” and pioneered new non-violent protest tactics that were later picked up in cities across the country. Thurgood Marshall grew up here, as did the chief lobbyist for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Clarence Mitchell. Most recently this was the district for the late Representative Elijah Cummings, one of the most powerful voices for civil rights in Washington. Join us to learn how fundamental pillars of the Civil Rights Movement got built here by driven, activist neighbors with their eyes on the prize. Register here!

A Wonderful Evening at the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center

At Baltimore Heritage’s 2022 Preservation Celebration, the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center won a $500 microgrant to buy this tv screen! (Image courtesy of Kalin Thomas)

Last Thursday, the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center (formerly the Women’s Industrial Exchange) hosted Baltimore Heritage and friends for a fabulous behind-the-scenes evening. We got to see an array of artifacts (many of which were found on the second floor of the building, untouched for decades) and exhibits that show how the building continues to honor Maryland women. We saw the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame, which includes people like Margaret Brent, Pauli Murray, and Major General Linda Singh.

Pauli Murray, Civil Rights activist, advocate, legal scholar and theorist, author and – later in life – an Episcopal priest

We also viewed the Valiant Maryland Women: The Fight for Suffrage exhibit, which featured Baltimoreans Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Etta Maddox, and Augusta Chissell, among other Maryland women. Dr. Amy Rosenkrans then gave us a fabulous historical overview of the Women’s Industrial Exchange, the third oldest women’s exchange in the country! This was a place for down-on-their-luck women to sell crafts and goods to support themselves. It also had an affordable and delicious lunchroom.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, abolitionist, suffragist, poet, temperance activist, teacher, public speaker, and writer

She also highlighted where she wants her research to go in the future. If you have memories or stories about the Women’s Industrial Exchange, or know anything about Baltimore’s Colored Women’s Industrial Exchange, please contact her at amyrosenkransphd@gmail.com.

Image courtesy of Kalin Thomas

Be sure to check out the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center to hear about the courageous, pioneering and often forgotten women that have made Maryland the great state is it today.

 

Announcing More Spring & Summer Tours!

We are so thrilled to be returning to our regular walking tour programming that we have decided to add even more options! Please check out the following new additions to our tour schedule.

Jonestown & the Shot Tower Jonestown is one of Baltimore’s oldest and most historic neighborhoods. On April 8, we hope you’ll join Baltimore Heritage and tour guide Bev Rosen as we stroll past a series of firsts: the McKim Free School, the city’s oldest education building from 1833, the Lloyd Street Synagogue, the first synagogue in Maryland and the third oldest in the country, and the 1808 home of Charles Carroll, the longest living signer of the Declaration of Independence. And of course, what is a visit to Jonestown without a stop at the iconic Phoenix Shot Tower! Register here.

Maryland Women’s Heritage Center On April 20, join Baltimore Heritage on a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center with its Executive Director, Diana Bailey! Formerly the Woman’s Industrial Exchange, the third oldest women’s exchange in the country, the building continues to honor Maryland women with art installations and exhibits including the MD Women’s Hall of Fame and “Valiant MD Women: The Fight for the Vote.” Over wine and cheese, we’ll be joined by Dr. Amy Rosenkrans to hear the stories behind the artifacts. Register here.

Liberty Ship S.S. John W. Brown On May 17, join Baltimore Heritage on a special behind-the-scenes tour of S.S. John W. Brown, one of only two remaining, fully operational Liberty ships that participated in World War II. One of 384 vessels built at Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, S.S. John W. Brown could carry almost 9,000 tons of cargo, about the same as 300 railroad boxcars, and could transport every conceivable kind of cargo during the war – from beans to bullets. On May 17, join us to go below deck and explore this preserved piece of history! Register here.

LGBTQ Heritage in Charles Village On June 3, celebrate Pride Month with us on a LGBTQ Heritage walking tour of Charles Village! Guides Richard Oloizia, Louis Hughes and Kate Drabinski will take us on a walk past local landmarks from the original home of the Gay Community Center of Baltimore, now the GLCCB, to the St. Paul Street church that supported the growth of the Metropolitan Community Church, Baltimore’s oldest LGBT religious organization, and the radical feminist writers and publishers that gave a voice to lesbian authors who might not otherwise have been read. We hope you’ll join us to celebrate Pride and the incredible community that called Charles Village its home. Register here.

The Catacombs Under Westminster: Two Hundred Years of Tombs and Edgar Allan Poe’s Gravesite On June 24 and July 15, join us to explore the eerie catacombs underneath Baltimore’s First Presbyterian Church, now called Westminster Hall, and the graves that surround it, including the final resting place of Edgar Allan Poe. The burial ground predates the church, which was built on arches above the gravesites, so that the graveyard and its tombstones lie both underneath and around the building. All told, the compact cemetery next to the University of Maryland School of Law is the final resting place for over 1,000 individuals. We can’t wait to see you “Where Baltimore’s History Rests in Peace!” Register here: June 24 & July 15

We will be updating our tour schedule to include more Behind the Scenes tours of places all over city, so please continue to check our website. Find all of our tours and more here!

– Johns Hopkins, Executive Director

Join Baltimore Heritage on a Walking Tour this Spring!

Spring is right around the corner and with it comes a host of great heritage tours! We are thrilled to offer tours in historic neighborhoods all over Baltimore.

Historic Rockland Village: A Preserved Hamlet from 1706 – On March 4, Baltimore Heritage and Preservation Alliance of Baltimore County hope you can join us for a tour of Rockland Village, one of the earliest settlements on the Jones Falls River. Thomas Bruggman, a 45-year resident and historic preservationist, will help us travel back in time on a tour of this idyllic hamlet that is still home to an 18th century tavern and blacksmith shop, as well as a livery stable and a grist mill. Situated in Baltimore County right on the city/county line, this tour will showcase the eclectic history of this area from its roots as a buffalo crossing and Susquehannock summer camp to the oldest existing outdoor Art Deco swimming pool in the country.

Sunday Morning Monumental City Tours – The first day of the Sunday Farmers’ Market & Bazaar is Sunday, April 2, and it’s also the first tour in our 2023 Monumental City Sunday morning series! From April through November, we’ll be hosting guided walking tours on Sunday mornings of the 1904 Fire Downtown, Ridgely’s Delight, Federal Hill, and Mount Vernon Place. Come to one or come to all, and bring a friend! Find the list of all of the tours here.

Lexington Market: In October 2022, the new Lexington Market opened in a brand new building. On this tour we’ll first explore the surrounding neighborhood to discover how Baltimore emerged as a leading industrial and economic city in the 19th century. Immigration, slavery, commerce and major changes in transportation were all part of the mix here in Baltimore and the country as a whole. We’ll end with a tour of the new market, including its wonderful public art and, of course, its merchants (new and old). Be sure to bring your canvas bags to do some quintessential Baltimore shopping after the tour! Join us on March 25 & April 22.

Green Mount Cemetery – We are also back again with tours of Green Mount Cemetery. Green Mount is the final resting place of some of Maryland’s most famous, and infamous, figures including Johns Hopkins, Enoch Pratt, William and Henry Walters, Mary Elizabeth Garrett, Betsy Patterson, A.S. Abell, John H. B. Latrobe, John Wilkes Booth, and Elijah Bond, who patented the Ouija Board. We’ve got tours lined up on: March 18, April 15, May 20, & June 17.

Clifton Mansion – Finally, we are introducing a new tour at Clifton Mansion, the unique Italianate country house that has overlooked Baltimore City for over 200 years. At one time the summer home of War of 1812 captain Henry Thompson and then philanthropist Johns Hopkins, the story of Clifton Estate is one about two prominent businessmen, enslaved & free Black people, and more. We’ll also get to see the latest restorations made possible by the Friends of Clifton Mansion and Civic Works, as well as some yet-to-be restored spaces that are brimming with stories to tell! And the tour wouldn’t be complete without climbing the tower and taking in one-of-a-kind views of Clifton Park and our surrounding city. We hope to see you there on March 4, April 15, & May 6.

 

We will be updating our tour schedule to include more Behind the Scenes tours of places all over city, so please continue to check our website. Find all of our tours and more here!