Volunteer at Iron Hill

Volunteers are an integral part of the Iron Hill Museum! In the museum, office, grounds, offices, at special events, or elsewhere in and out of the Museum, our volunteers' service is invaluable to making the Iron Hill Museum function smoothly. From daily tasks to special functions and events, volunteers serve on a weekly, monthly or as-needed basis.

To learn more about volunteering opportunities, please go to our Volunteer page!

New Learning Center for Delaware Capital Campaign

The New Learning Center’s 5,000 square-foot space will have new classrooms and space for hands-on programs and exhibits. The current museum building is being restored to its original 1920s identity as a one-room schoolhouse for African American children. The rich oral history of the school’s alumni is being recorded and will help to tell the story of the African-American community that called Iron Hill “home.”

Learn More About the New Learning Center >>

Schoolhouse Restoration Fund

The Iron Hill Museum is currently housed in what was originally a one-room schoolhouse. Iron Hill School 112c was one of 91 built by P.S. duPont in the 1920s for African Americans in Delaware. For over 40 years the Delaware Academy of Science has owned and operated this schoolhouse as a natural history museum.

After the completion of the New Learning Center, the Academy plans to complete the restoration of this one-room schoolhouse. The interior of the schoolhouse will be as it was when used to teach African American elementary school children from the Iron Hill area. We also plan to develop exhibits to tell the story of the 91 schools that were built in Delaware for African Americans.

For a number of years the Academy has sponsored Roberta Perkins, an Oral Historian who is African American, to collect the oral histories from the alumni who attended this one-room schoolhouse. These oral histories were transcribed by Marsha Adams and are now in the Morris Library at the University of Delaware. Performance Consultants Group, Inc., a Newark-based technology firm, has developed a video that includes some of these histories as well as pictures from that era.

Several years ago the Iron Hill Museum received a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to begin the restoration of the schoolhouse. This $92,000 grant provided a new roof, new security system, foundation restoration, and an upgrade of the electrical system as well as the restoration of three of the windows in the Museum. The restoration work will continue after the New Learning Center has been completed and all the artifacts, displays, furniture, files and taxidermy are moved to the New Learning Center.

Until then we are seeking contributions to enable us to complete the restoration and to develop the exhibits that tell this unique and important Delaware story.

Please consider contributing to this fund for the future of this important chapter in the history of Delaware.

Contribute to the Schoolhouse Restoration Fund

Education Fund

The primary mission of the Iron Hill Museum is to be a resource for the study of the human and natural history of the Iron Hill region. At the present time the full time and part-time staffs are hired to conduct the education programs at the museum as well as outreach programs to schools and other institutions in the tri-state area. Volunteers handle the fiscal, maintenance and other needs of the museum.

The Academy has created an endowment fund for the purpose of establishing a permanent source of funding for the educational staff. This fund was established several years ago with the Delaware Community Foundation.

We seek and welcome all contributions to this dedicated fund.

It is small now, but will grow with time.

We ask you to contribute what you can to enable the future education of area students in the unique and important history of the Iron Hill area that includes the science areas of Archaeology, Geology, Paleontology, Botany and Biology.

Contribute to the Education Fund