Please also DO look into volunteering at Surratt House! I worked there as a docent for neigh on to 20 years and racked up about 750 docent hours! I LOVED every minute of it - I commuted from Richmond VA to Clinton MD sometimes more than 2-3 times a month -
I'm sure Laurie would love to have you as well!
I second that. Ford's is pretty much on the job training. Much of Ford's is about crowd management and telling "the history" in about 10 minutes. The Surratt Society is the "creme de la creme" of not only knowledge and research of the Lincoln Assassination, but of the entire era. The crew at Surratt's is tops.