An increase in visitor traffic has prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District to seek more volunteers to operate the Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum and Interpretive Site, 910 Washington St.

According to information from the district, the museum has seen a 44 percent increase in the number of people visiting the museum, causing the need for more volunteers.

The museum has been staffed by volunteers since 2014, when Service Specialists Ltd. the company hired by the Corps in 2012 to provide staff and interpretive services and maintain the building, boat and grounds at the $23 million facility, did not renew its contract.

“We have 25 volunteers on our contact list, and right now we have 11 active volunteers,” said Aaron Posner, a natural resources management specialist for Vicksburg District who is the onsite manager for the museum. “The most anybody works in a given month is four days; they work one shift, which is a half a day. We have 56 available shifts this particular month — that’s two a day — and we have 32 filled, so we’re missing a lot.”

One of the volunteers is a man contracted by the city to perform maintenance and custodial duties. Posner said the man volunteers one day a week.

He said the museum has seen an increase in visitors with the arrival of the river tour boats that stop in Vicksburg.

“The big draw is the military park, but usually their last stop of the day is our museum, and I’ve noticed we’ll see 75 to 100 additional visitors on those days when the boats are in, and we see an average of four (boats) a month,” Posner said.

Volunteers can sign up for shift work that includes a full day, half day or any number of hours desired. If someone would like to volunteer, they can contact Posner, at 601-631-5287, or the museum at 601-638-9900.

If someone wanting to volunteer is unfamiliar with the museum or the Motor Vessel Mississippi IV, he said, they will receive a brief orientation.

The $23 million museum opened at Washington and Jackson streets in August 2012 as the Lower Mississippi Museum and Interpretive Center after nearly 20 years of planning.

The facility features a main hall with educational exhibits about the river and offers tours of the retired towboat MV Mississippi IV.

In May 2014, it was named the Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi Museum and Interpretive Center in honor of Jesse Brent, known as the “Granddaddy of the Towboat Industry,” who founded Greenville Towing Company and later Brent Towing Company.

The museum includes the main building, the, Motor Vessel Mississippi and the Mississippi River Model. It is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.