Ways to Volunteer
By volunteering here you will be part of something big, working to save this house and contents for the future. This is also your opportunity to full fill your internship requirements, get community service credit, and add to the volunteer part of your resume. You will make new friends, and you can encourage your friends to join us too.
Activities change all the time, so coming to the volunteer training will expose you to everything here and more. Whatever activity you choose—it is a wonderful way to get involved with like-minded people of all ages who love historic houses, antiques, vintage clothing, furniture, Victorian architecture and gardening. To become involved, please fill out our Volunteer Form. Sign up for the training and subscribe to our mailing list.
If you have any questions contact us by email at info@cohenbrayhouse.org or by phone at (510) 536-1703.
We meet on Wednesdays and Saturdays between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
If you'd like to bring a group for a one day work party, we can work with you and find a date, just get in touch.
Gardening
Become a garden volunteer today! This 1/2 acre garden contains heritage and native plants, fruit trees, hidden pathways and stories.
Currently, we need your help to rebuild the compost pile and our hugelkultur garden.
The raised beds you will work on, are planted with vegetables that we share with the neighbors or you!
Water and maintain our potted annuals or weed the pathways and bulb garden, these can be done solo or with a friend. Raking and weeding everything is an ongoing task that makes a big difference in the 1/2 acre garden.
Jobs change throughout the season. No need to have prior experience but it helps.
We’ll provide the garden gloves and all necessary supplies. Just bring yourself, a hat, sunscreen and clothes, you’re comfortable getting muddy in, and get ready to weed, till, and plant in our garden.
*close toed shoes recommended
House Collections
This home survived the late 19th century and the early 20th century and is full of the family's history, documents and belongings—a collection of everything they saved, used and felt they needed or wanted.
Our goal is to keep the collection together, accessible and intact so this time-capsule of life in Oakland can be studied and admired by historians, designers, and graduate students, interns and you!
We will train you to safely handle our artifacts and how to use the amazing Catalogit app. for your collections. We have so many more items to discover and catalog.
Use this link to see our collection of 3200+ cataloged items from the house:
Help teach about the house and its history.
Are you interested in Bay Area history? Do you love old houses and antiques? As a docent, you will be trained to do historical interpretation for all ages and can help lead our monthly tours and special events. Join our on going monthly tours, you will learn about the history of the Cohen and Bray families and their deep roots in California history. Use your passion to teach others to appreciate the aesthetic interiors, collections, Victorian and Craftsman architectural details throughout the house. Gain valuable skills and be part of educating others about our long term goals and missions to connect all our histories with the neighborhood and schools in the region.
Questions? Call (510) 536-1703 to leave a message.
Help Rebuild Wooden Windows
Learn new skills or teach us yours!
Meet Mark St. Gaudens, our caretaker. He has already rebuilt over half the windows in the house. He has an amazing workshop in the back for all our restoration projects and can use your help. There is scraping, sanding, and painting. There is also adding UV filters to the existing panes.
We hope to begin helping other D.I.Y.'ers learn how to rebuild their own old wooden windows. If you already have skills in restoration, we are looking for you to help us teach as we build up our classrooms and programs. Please let us know if you are interested.
Testimonials from Volunteers
Deborah
I watched a zoom program with Kate, came to a tea and and then got involved in collections, transcribing insurance documents from the historic Cohen Estate in Alameda. I have helped with teas and feel that this special house is "her" house.
Kate
Kate loves historic houses and loves that she is able to do different projects on different days. She comes because it is a full emersion into history, not just papers and archives. the projects she has gotten involved in allow her to research in different directions, and share the info she's found. This place allows her to put things in order, which is so satisfying.
Ronin
He first came to the house while on a Oakland Heritage Alliance tour of the Fruitvale neighborhood with his grandma. He had a school assignment to work with an organization. He convinced two of his friends to join him. they did projects in the garden. After he graduated from high school he returned and is now helping clean out the back buildings.
Finn
He came to the Cohen Bray house because he is a friend of Ronin and needed to complete the school project.
He really liked doing various projects in the garden, he helped serve tea and it has been interesting cleaning out the back buildings. He loves collecting old books . He like being productive and helping to preserve history.
Andres
He came to support his wife Maria. He was encouraged to volunteer for his own well being by an ESL-(English as a second language teacher.) He started helping Maria and then got caught up in his own projects.Learning about Emelita and her love for dogs which he shares. There is always work to do and flexible timing.
Maria
Maria needed practice for her Masters in library science and we were available. She came on a tour on her own and then brought Andres. She is organizing the link and tags with in our book collection. She has the freedom to do what she sees is necessary. They moved from S.F. to Oakland and she is proud to be able to do what she likes to do and to give back to the Oakland community she lives in.
Casey
Recently graduated in Design Studio Art Casey realized she was very interested in an historical perspective. Before getting an archival degree, she wanted to do some practical work. Positions are hard to find so she was delighted to find she could volunteer with us. Combining her love of prints, she is scanning Emelita's linoleum block prints and learning how to use the Catalogit App. to updating data from 2012.
Claire
Claire came to a harvest festival a couple of years ago and found a community here, outside of her work as a therapist in an elementary school. The people working in the garden, the cats and the amazing space drew her. She enjoys the flexibility of the work and getting to choose what she does. She has cataloged the book shelves, cleaned the woodwork, helped with the tours and teas.
Rosalyn
She started during Covid, She had felt isolated in S.F., so went on Volunteer Match and found us. Coming here was incredible, autonomy, see what grabs you. She found Captain Cumming's ship journals from 1877-1879 and transcribed them, 5 years ago. She thought she would write an article for the news letter and ended up writing a book on Clipper ships, the goldrush and family. It was a Victorian candy store. Which will be for sale at the house.
Julie
Julie moved here 6 years ago because her daughter was pregnant with twins. She found us through Volunteer Match and realized that she would love to work with collections. So she came and met Nancy and toured a spooky beat up old house and put little numbers on items. She graduated to work in the garden and then joined the board as treasurer. She has recently worked taking the old glazing off the glass so we can rebuild the sunroom windows. She says there is always something to do in this house and it changes all the time.
