Oral History Intern

Department
Collections
Supervisor
Oral History Program Manager
Hours
Up to 20
Location
Semester(s)
Summer 2024 (Jun - Aug)
Status
Paid

The MNHS Oral History Program Internship is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to deeply examine the scale and legacy of an oral history archive, assist with processing and work to make the backlog more publicly accessible; and think creatively, ethically, and outside the box about how to use oral history archives to engage communities across the State of Minnesota. No new oral histories will be collected as part of this internship, but rather, this internship will focus on clean-up and potential avenues of use for our existing oral history collections.

Ideal Degree(s)
  • Anthropology
  • English
  • History
  • Museum studies
  • other related degrees
Student Qualifications
  • Fluency in Spanish or another prominent language spoken in Minnesota outside of English
  • Ability to listen closely and carefully, and remain curious 
  • A strong desire to connect the greater public to the oral history archive
  • Able to see the forest for the trees, to see the trees for the forest, and ability to discern when to apply each one
Student Responsibilities
  • Audit-edit oral history interviews currently in backlog
  • Assist with reorganizing and clean-up of existing oral history collections currently not cataloged or available online
  • Help identify excerpts in both text and digital forms to potentially use in various forms of publishing and/or community engagement
  • Help conduct research on presentation and various forms of public dissemination of oral history archives
  • Assist with reimagining the physical office space of the Oral History Program
Knowledge Intern is expected to gain
  • Experience working with a living, breathing oral history archive alongside Curators and Collections Department staff in a museum
  • Editing experience, both in text and digital media
  • Introduction to cataloging, content management systems, and opportunity to think creatively and broadly about discoverability systems
  • Experience working collaboratively with internal colleagues at MNHS and community members across the State of Minnesota
  • Experience with brainstorming and potentially planning to create excerpts and publishable materials from the oral history archive to make more broadly available to different types of audiences
Additional Requirements

None.

How to Apply

Send a cover letter, resume, and any required additional materials to internships@mnhs.org. 

At MNHS, we don’t just accept difference--we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on diversity for the benefit of our volunteers, interns, employees, our products and services, and our community. The Minnesota Historical Society believes that an inclusive culture among our team members is critical to our success as a historical society, and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. The Minnesota Historical Society is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.