The Division of Vertebrate Paleontology uses the assistance of volunteers in the museum’s collections facility, Dickinson Hall on the University of Florida campus and during 2022 at Powell Hall, the museum’s exhibits building.

Volunteer washing fossils
A museum volunteer washes fossil bones.

Volunteers perform many different tasks and we try to match new volunteers with tasks that interest them most. Among the tasks most commonly done by our volunteers are plaster jacket preparation, screenwashing, cleaning and repair, and matrix picking of small fossils.

Because of the time invested in training our volunteers for work in the collection, we only accept individuals who can work at least three hours per week and who can work for a minimum of six weeks (ideally longer). Volunteers must be a minimum of 18 years old. During 2022, many of our volunteers will be working in the “live lab” portion of the Fantastic Fossils exhibit at Powell Hall. We can especially use new volunteers who can work on weekends (10-5 on Saturdays, 1-5 on Sundays).

volunteer working with fossil skeleton
A museum volunteer working on a fossil skeleton in our prep lab.

Persons interested in interviewing for a collections-based volunteer position should contact us at vertpaleo@floridamuseum.ufl.edu or 352-273-1930.