• Originally published August 26, 2010 at 1:01 a.m., updated August 26, 2010 at 2:42 a.m.

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (AP) - Emily Clayton remembers her toughest assignment as a volunteer at the Casa Grande Valley Historical Museum changing some light bulbs.

At first, it sounded easy. Volunteer handyman and historian Thom Poor asked for her help. Clayton told him: "That's going to be no problem."

Then Poor advised her: "Don't look down."

The light bulbs happened to be high up in the tower of Heritage Hall, a one-time Presbyterian church sanctuary now a part of the Casa Grande Valley Historical Society's property. The hall sits adjacent to the museum at West Florence Boulevard. Clayton told Poor she was afraid of heights. He kept her on task.

"Don't look down. We're changing the light bulbs."

Of course, she looked down. But one thing Clayton has not done in five years as a volunteer at the museum is look back. To her, volunteering has offered more than the adventure of changing the lights. She has worked the gift shop. She's helped inventory the museum's collection. And she worked as a docent, directing tours for adults and school groups alike. The children, she said, are often the most inquisitive.

"They ask, Is this really old? Is this how people lived? Did people sleep on one of these beds?'"

It's a part of volunteering that Clayton enjoys most: "I'm a people person, and I love meeting and greeting new people," she said.

The museum could use a lot more volunteers like Clayton, said Merrilyn Ridgeway, a volunteer herself. She's probably as close as it gets to volunteer-in-charge. There is no executive director. There's one part-time business manager. It's almost as though the museum is run by an all-volunteer army, one seriously short of soldiers, Ridgeway said.

Asked how short, Ridgeway said: "Dozens."

And this time of year, the need is that much greater. The museum, closed in summer, is gearing up for a new season. Doors open Sept. 15.

Volunteers need no special skills, just a willingness to do ... well, everything from dusting exhibits, providing security and giving tours. And while the pay falls a bit short of minimum wage as in nothing there are fringe benefits, said volunteer Erin McClish. For one, it's like getting a free lesson in Casa Grande history.

"I have learned more in the four years here than I have in the previous 48 years," said McClish, going on 52.

Like many volunteers, McClish and Clayton have day jobs. Clayton manages an arts and crafts store. McClish is a belly dancer. It speaks to the diversity of the volunteers. But the museum falls short in one demographic, Ridgeway said. And that's youth. The museum could use more young volunteers, she added. Clayton, at 46, is perhaps the youngest.

Not that there's anything wrong with a little institutional knowledge and experience.

Dawn Snell, 73, is a retired archaeologist. She specialized in prehistoric Southwest people like the Hohokam, who once inhabited the Casa Grande Valley and built what are now the namesake ruins. She has helped with reenactments of Hohokam life, once enlisting the help of Clayton, a Yaqui Indian.

"Emily was our Indian maiden," Snell said.

Kay Benedict, 84, has been active with the museum and historical society since its founding in 1964. Snell jokes that Benedict is the museum's "first artifact." She has spent years identifying and cataloguing the museum's large collection of photographs. That includes some 20,000 negatives from the mid-20th century collection of Casa Grande photographer Jim Gorraiz,

That's just a sampling of how volunteers keep a museum in business. They also pay bills. They apply for grants. They set up exhibits. They dust. They even clean the bathrooms.

It's all as easy as changing a light bulb.

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