Student Internship Program at the Michigan Historical Museum
Because of the Michigan Historical Museum's success in non-traditional teaching and learning, the museum now offers an internship program for undergraduate and graduate students. Student interns gain academic credit for their internship as well as practical experience to complement their academic studies before entering the professional world.
Internships are unpaid and may be of interest to students in the following areas:
museum studies, history, anthropology, sociology
education, social work
theater, music
public relations, journalism, communications
business/>public/nonprofit administration
hospitality/tourism management
English, foreign languages
Internship Opportunities
Interns work in museum Education, Collections, Exhibits and Visitor Services. They may also work with our staff and a faculty advisor to customize an internship.
Education Interns - Plan, develop and conduct tours and education and public programs through costumed interpretation, hands-on activities and heritage crafts demonstrations for school groups, scout programs, adult groups and other visitors during the week and/or on weekends, including set up and clean up.
Collection Interns - Document objects in the museum collections, update its collection database, track objects on exhibit, at field sites and in storage; and/or do inventory and object care. Research, catalogue, photograph, number and store information into an ARGUS database.
Exhibit Interns - May have the opportunity to research special topics in Michigan history, help develop and design new exhibits and/or improve current exhibits including interpretive panels, hands-on activities and cases. Students should have experience with PC-based programs such as Adobe Illustrator, PaintShop Pro and PhotoShop; skill in animation or interactive programs are also beneficial. (Although interns would be based in Lansing, their products may be used throughout the museum system.)
Visitor Services Interns - Provide information to museum guests, greet and orient tour groups, act as a liaison between tour groups and education programs, and conduct surveys that assess and evaluate museum programs.
LOCATION AND AVAILABILITY: Internships are available year-round at the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing; summer internships are available at all sites in the Michigan Historical Museum System.
TIME REQUIREMENT: Flexible; minimum 10-15 hours a week during the week and/or weekends; fall, winter-spring or summer semester considering students' hours and the museum's needs.
Students must:
Take initiative and be self-motivated
Be detail-oriented and thorough
Be interested in history
Have an ability to work well individually and on a team
Be willing to learn new skills
Enjoy working with people—children and adults
Have good oral and written communication skills
Museum staff will:
Place and train students to provide hands-on educational experiences to visitors
Mentor students by providing training, resources and direction onsite
Help students develop leadership skills
LEARNING AGREEMENT: Internships at the museum are based on learning objectives defined by the intern, his/her faculty advisor and museum supervisor. They will develop a mutually beneficial project. Learning objectives serve as a basis for evaluation and identify the project, respective responsibilities, the length of the internship and evaluation procedure.
EVALUATION: The intern and supervisor write evaluations of the internship and submit them to the intern's faculty advisor and the museum internship coordinator. Interns are expected to provide the intern supervisor with any evaluation forms from their respective college or university.
CREDITS/GRADES: Students may be eligible for academic credit. The word "credit" applies to any numerical factors, grades or special arrangements that the school acknowledges for this purpose. Students need to check with their respective college or university advisors or faculty to see if they might be able to satisfy internship requirements or perhaps independent studies. Students must follow their college's or university's requirement to receive credits for their work and are responsible for seeing to it that all necessary paperwork is completed. Museum supervisors will provide evaluations and recommendations but will not provide a grade on their internship. Academic institutions determine the students' grades/credits.
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