Internships

History and American Studies internships allow students to earn 3 credits in upper-division
American History while gaining valuable experience at a local museum, archive, or historic site. History and American Studies internships are unpaid, academic internships.   Internships usually require about 8 hours a week on site, working under the supervision of a professional.  Students are also required to complete a project.  Past projects have included  exhibits, tour guide information, and research based on collections.  Typically student interns are introduced to a wide variety of day-to-day issues, such as collections care, museum administration, public relations, and fundraising.  Internships are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED, and for history majors, an internship will satisfy your HIST110 requirement.

HIST480 or AMST480.  See your advisor regarding which to choose but the internship experience is the same.

To qualify, you should be a junior or senior, with 12 completed hours in history courses, including U.S. history, and a grade point average of 3.0 or better in history courses and 2.9 or better overall.   You do not need to be a history or American Studies major.  Permission of the Siena internship advisor (Dr. Karen Mahar) is required before any students can be placed, regardless of qualifications.  Students interested in obtaining an internship should read the application instructions and complete the application.

SOME POSSIBLE INTERNSHIPS:

Here is a list of where some Siena students have interned. These are NOT the only places where you can intern! Please see Dr. Mahar if you are interested in finding out more about internships.

State Museum of New York

Both a former curator at the State Museum of New York and the Executive Director of the Shaker Heritage Society would like a student intern to go through the catalog of the Shaker collection at the State Museum in order to identify which items came from the site, which is the first Shaker community in the United States.

Albany Institute of History and Art 

Spring 2005:  An intern assisted the museum’s curator in hosting an exhibit of the Supreme’s costumes on loan from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and added to the exhibit by contacted local collectors of Supremes memorabilia and creating the displays for that material.  This student also helped to create an AIHA exhibit on miniatures that was held in the exhibition space at the Albany International Airport.

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame 

Spring 2002:  An intern created an interactive CD of the museum’s holdings to allow docents (tour guides) to study the museum at their leisure.

Saratoga National Historic Park and Battlefield

Spring 2007:  Researching the connection between the American Revolutions and subsequent revolutions around the world for a future exhibit.

Spring 2004:  Created an interpretive agenda for high school students, following the New York State guidelines.  Conducted tours.

New York State Museum 

Fall 2002:  Took silent documentary footage of WWII Albany and researched the people, places, and events onscreen to provide a narrative outline.

Spring 2003:  Cataloged items from suitcases packed in the 1930s by patients of a home for the mentally ill.  Never unpacked, they are now bittersweet time capsules of the era.

Spring 2004:  Interviewed members of an exclusive African-American women’s club active in New York during the Harlem Renaissance.

Rensselaer County Historical Society 

Spring 2004:  Helped to create an exhibit about baseball in early Troy (the Troy Haymakers).

Spring 2003:  Researched and created the brochure that accompanied an exhibit on servants, mostly young Irish women, who lived in the Hart-Cluett mansion

Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation 

Spring 2003:  Conducted research and completed application to win the Putnam Cemetery recognition by the National Register of Historic Places.

Albany County Hall of Records 

Spring 2004: Compared 1920s and 1930s Albany police records (felonies) to see if there was an increase due to Prohibition and/or the Depression.

The New York State Military Heritage Institute
Spring 2004:  A student created a valuable database of African-American veterans from the Capital District.

U.S.S. Slater Destroyer Escort Historical Museum

Spring 2006:  A student interned on the USS Slater giving tours, getting ready for veterans’ reunions, and assisting in the restoration of a 3’ 50 caliber gun.

 PHOTO:  Siena student Renee Zych curated an exhibit on historic ceramics at the Albany Institute of History and Art, 2006

HISTORY AND AMERICAN STUDIES INTERNSHIP APPLICATION