Volunteers have been the driving force behind the immediate successes and longer-term projects of the EHS since its founding half a century ago. The Society offers diverse volunteer opportunities, whether you are a seasoned veteran in the non-profit world or a high school student looking for extracurricular experience in the community.

If being a docent appeals to you, imagine welcoming visitors from around California, the US, and the globe, sharing the local history of photos and schoolroom artifacts with children, parents, grandparents, great-aunts. Docents work in pairs on Saturdays throughout the year, preparing for a 10:00 AM opening and closing up at 3:00 PM. Beginners are teamed with experienced docents to learn the ropes and provided with a docent manual as well as access to a wealth of introductory primary sources.

Or perhaps you prefer to labor behind the scenes with maintenance, landscaping, or helping organize events. All of this is vital to the Society’s appeal and outreach.

Another sort of behind-the-scenes work is always needed: sustaining and improving our archival collections. Here, enthusiasm and perseverance are more important than any professional training. You can help us:

Edit Oral Histories: We have 100+ oral history interviews that we have digitized and transcribed through an AI system. Help us edit these transcriptions, at home on your own computer, working with electronic files that we provide, along with guidelines.

Convert Negative Photos into Positives: We have inherited more than 2500 photonegatives from the Coast News, 1950-75. Help us scan them into photopositives and label each appropriately. This is done with our Epson V39 Scanner at the Schoolhouse.

Sort and Scan Newsclips: EHS volunteers spent decades clipping accounts of Encinitas events and people out of local newspapers. We have 6500+ newsclips to identify fully, scan, and label. (We have already scanned 1500.)

Catalogue our Collection: We will soon start to catalogue our entire collection. After several hours of training, you can work from home at your own PC to catalog our collection piece by piece, so that eventually we can have a research station at the Schoolhouse at which anyone can enter a set of keywords and locate what we have on particular topics.

Whether you volunteer for years or a spring break, you will be making a meaningful, lasting contribution to our the Encinitas community.

Contact us or drop by on a Saturday for more information.

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Donations

The EHS relies on grants, bequests, and donations to fulfill its mission.

We have 501(c)3 status, so all donations are tax-deductible; receipts will be issued for all forms of payment.

Donate at your convenience:

a) Point your camera at the QR code to pay with credit card, Venmo, CashApp, Apple Pay, PayPal, etc.

b) Click this line to donate with credit card, Venmo, CashApp, Apple Pay, PayPal, etc.

c) Mail a check payable to the Encinitas Historical Society, and addressed – 1883 Schoolhouse, Re: Donation, 390 West F Street, Encinitas CA 92024. Please provide your email address and phone number.

d) Visit our Schoolhouse and be amazed by our racks of thematic gifts!