What does it take to be a decent docent?

For tour guides at the Downers Grove Park District History Museum, the qualifications certainly are appropriate. Museum Supervisor Christa Christensen states that “a willingness to help keep history alive is the only requirement.”

The hours are flexible, and training is provided. That involves studying a manual and observing experienced tour guides, or docents. In addition to having an interest in history, docents benefit from also having the ability to talk to groups of people, particularly school groups. Tour groups are usually, but not always, classes of second- or third-graders studying local history in the spring.

Tours last about an hour and often are handled by two docents. Each takes half of the group and starts at a different location. One group will begin in the barn, or annex, which houses displays such as the current textile exhibit. The barn also contains the village’s first motorized fire truck and other firefighting equipment.

That group then will walk to the museum itself in the house that Avis and Israel Blodgett’s son Charles built in 1898. The entrance hall, kitchen/dining room, and front and back parlors are the main areas examined on the first floor. On the second floor, the group will see two rooms: one furnished as the master bedroom and the second as a child’s bedroom with period pieces and accessories.

There also are two rooms showcasing displays – currently of pictures of residents — and models of historic Downers Grove buildings. The hallway is hung with pictures of famous people from Downers Grove, such as Egyptologist James Henry Breasted and noted legislator Lottie Holman O’Neill.

The second group begins in the house on the main floor, so the two groups don’t run into each other. Both groups spend approximately 20 minutes in each of the three areas.

Before a new trainee solos, he or she will shadow a couple of other experienced docents to see how it is done. Of course, no two tours will be exactly alike. What docents focus on will be influenced by their listeners.

Docents need to be able to read a group, Christensen said. If listeners are really interested in a particular aspect of the house, it is OK to go into more depth on that topic. In any case, there is no way that all the information available can be shared in just an hour or could be retained by the listeners. It is very gratifying, though, for a docent to see students become fascinated by tales of chiseling chunks of ice from a pond to refrigerate food or of whole families using the same tub of water for Saturday nights baths and so on.

 For information or to book a tour, call Christensen at (630) 963-1309.