History docent Arch Battista, a former pilot in the Air Force Reserve, will offer his first Sunday tour focusing on airplanes.
Arch Battista of Belchertown is a history docent at the Springfield Museums. He will be giving his first Sunday mini-tour focusing on airplanes in the museum.
The Springfield Museums docents, or ‘teachers,’ are always excited to share their enthusiasm for learning with each other in the classroom, and with museum visitors during their volunteer hours.
Now, the docents will get a better chance to interact with the public, thanks to the new Sunday at 1 p.m. mini-tours, at no extra cost after admission at the museums.
“The term docent is from the Latin, essentially it means ‘teacher’ or ‘mentor.’ I like to think it’s more than a glorified tour guide. It’s interactive; it’s not simply a lecture. It’s not a person who’s standing up there talking at you from a script which shall not be deviated from, we have a lot of fun,” said history docent Arch Battista of Belchertown.
“Picture a couple dozen volunteers from all sorts of backgrounds, a lot of retired teachers are attracted to this, but we’ve got retired engineers, retired lawyers, people who are still very much involved in their careers and all of us were drawn for various reasons to this hobby. If you asked me to describe, ‘Ok, what are the typical attributes of the docent?’ I couldn’t do it,” said Battista.
The docent program includes docents specializing in art, history, or science. The docents take special classes and hear from guest speakers in their field of concentration, both for the sake of learning and to be able to better inform museum visitors.
History docent Arch Battista shows the features of the old Indian Motorcycles made in Springfield, on display at the Springfield Museums.
Until recently, docents mostly gave tours to school groups. Docents also participate in “carts,” where they're available to answer questions from the public. With the new Sunday mini-tours, docents are able to focus more on their specific areas of interest. The tours are geared toward adult visitors, although children are always welcome.
“Basically, it’s an opportunity to stop and listen for a few minutes to more depth than you’re gonna get from just reading the cards on the wall. And I’m betting that it won’t be limited to that, I’m betting that you will find the docents who do the mini tours circulating and trying to be as helpful and welcoming as we can be, ‘cause that’s why we’re doing it,” Battista said.
Battista is particularly interested in airplanes, and will be leading a museum tour on Sunday, April 14th, talking mainly about the airplanes hanging in the museum. Battista is currently a lawyer, and is a former pilot in the Air Force Reserves. He became a docent at the Springfield Museums a few years ago.
Elementary school students are frequent guests of the Springfield Museums, and often attend tours provided by the docents.
“The process to become a docent is very well organized. Laura Ceinciwa is in charge of us, and we spend a year in training. It’s not all that time consuming, typically we get together for an hour and a half on Monday afternoons when the museums are closed, and we will address a given topic, whether it’s airplanes or Indian Motorcycles, whether it’s automobiles, we will have presentations. We will take on assignments, for example we’ll talk about the airplane that’s hanging in the SIS Hall, and we’ll research it and come back and present our homework assignment to the group, informing everybody,” said Battista.
The Springfield Museums are home to collections of western Massachusetts history, featuring a memorial to Dr. Seuss, a collection of old Indian Motorcycles, and Springfield Armory firearms, to name a few.
Sunday mini-tours run approximately 30 minutes, with no reservation necessary. Museum admission is free for Springfield residents and museum members, $15 for nonmember adults, $10 for seniors and college students, $8 for children 3-17, and free for children under 3.