August 26, 2026

The Wellin will welcome back thirty-two docents this August as we prepare for the opening of the 2026-2027 academic year. A highly interdisciplinary group, the docent cohort comprises Hamilton students with academic concentrations spanning the liberal arts—biochemistry, creative writing, Japanese, history, sociology, art history, archaeology, art, physics, economics, philosophy… the list goes on. The docents will reunite with each other and with the museum at our annual Welcome Back Gathering, a community event featuring gelato and artmaking on the Wellin's Selch Terrace.

For seven of the docents, their time at the Wellin is just beginning. Hired last spring, they will undertake the Docent Foundations training intensive during the three days preceding the semester. Docent Foundations is a twenty-hour training program designed to give docents the context, skills, and confidence they need to succeed in their role. The training takes a broad look at the history of museum teaching and collecting at Hamilton College to place the Wellin museum within its historical context. It emphasizes developing skills in versatile teaching techniques to support conversational, object-based learning within the museum. As a culminating challenge of their training, docents will prepare and deliver two practice tours on objects in the Wellin's collection.

Both new and returning docents will also participate in training sessions dedicated to the upcoming exhibition Storytelling: Photographers Making Meaning | Works from the Wellin Museum’s Collection. Docents will be among the first groups to see the show before it opens to the public on Saturday, September 12. They will gain insights into the curatorial process during a walkthrough with the curator Dr. Elizabeth Shannon, and will have a chance to strategize about how to create meaningful experiences for the Hamilton classes, K12 school groups, and other visitors who come to the museum this fall.

The docents are the engine behind the educational programming and community outreach that the Wellin organizes throughout the academic year. This fall we will launch our K12 and family programming with our annual Wellin Kids Ice Cream and Chalk Party, which will take place on the Patricia Selch Terrace on Tuesday, September 1, offering the community an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors as the summer comes to a close! Additional Wellin Kids events this fall include an opportunity to make a personalized trading card based on the works of photographer Mike Mandel displayed in our upcoming exhibition Storytelling: Photographers Making Meaning | Works from the Wellin Museum’s Collection, as well as crafting curiosity mini sculptures inspired by the multi-media assemblage The House of Chance and Mischief by artist Renée Stout currently on display in Archive Hall.