North Carolina Museum Internships and Volunteer Opportunities

Here is a list of North Carolina museums and historic sites that offer internships and volunteer opportunities. This list is by no means exhaustive, just a launching point for your internship search. These particular sites are mostly in Charlotte and Winston-Salem.
------

Charlotte Nature Museum offers volunteer internships to juniors and seniors and grad students for college credit - more information here (Charlotte)

Levine Museum of the New South welcomes volunteers, including tour guides - more information here (Charlotte)

Discovery Place is a science and technology museum connected with Charlotte Nature Museum that also offers internships to juniors and seniors and grad students - more info here (Charlotte)

Carolinas Aviation Museum offers an education internship for students who have completed at least two years of undergraduate work (grad students are preferred) and are studying history, education, or museum studies and possess experience working in camp, childcare, or education - more info here (Charlotte)

The Billy Graham Library welcomes year-round and seasonal volunteers - more info here (Charlotte)

The Mint Museum is an art and craft museum that offers an extensive internship program with applications due in March, June, and November for the summer, fall, and spring, respectively...see the full post about it - more info here and here (Charlotte)

Old Salem Living History town/museum welcomes volunteers, including college interns - more info here (Winston-Salem)

The Children's Museum of Winston-Salem welcomes volunteers who enjoy working with children - more info here (Winston-Salem)

SciWorks Science Center and Environmental Park offer internships, posted here when available (Winston-Salem)

The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art welcomes volunteers, with opportunities in exhibits, education, office, visitor services, and gardening - more info here (Winston-Salem)

Burwell School Historic Site welcomes volunteers - more info here (Hillsborough)

Korner's Folly historic house museum welcomes volunteers, offering opportunities giving tours, puppeteering, greeting visitors, assisting with events - more info here

Florida Museum Internships and Volunteer Opportunities

Looking to get away to the land of fun and the sun (and old people)? Here are links to house museums and smaller-size museums offering volunteer opportunities and internships in Florida. It's by no means exhaustive, but a resource to begin your internships search.

• Stranahan House Museum (Fort Lauderdale)
• Bonnet House Museum (Fort Lauderdale)
• Rossetter House Museum (Melbourne)
• Knott House Museum (Tallahassee)
• Museum of Florida History (Tallahassee)
• Ximenez-Fatio House Museum (St. Augustine)
• Hernando Historical Museum Association (Brooksville)
• House of Refuge (Stuart)
• Leu Gardens and House Museum (Orlando)
• Ernest Hemingway House and Museum (Key West)
• The Barnacle House Museum (Coconut Grove)
• Harry S. Truman's Little White House (Key West)
• Key West Art and Historical Society (Key West)
• St. Augustine Historical Society Historic House Complex (St. Augustine)
• Art and History Museums Maitland (Maitland): offers internships for college students and recent graduates year-round:
• Marketing and Social Media
• Education
• History and Art History
• Development
• Rental and Retail
• more information here
• Museum of Arts and Sciences (Daytona Beach): offers unpaid internships on a "flexible and ongoing basis"; departments available:
• History Education
• Education
• Marketing and Public Relations
• Science and Ecology Education
• Group Sales
• Planetarium
• To apply, email resume and application with required information
• more information here
• Edison and Ford Winter Estates (Fort Myers): offers internships each semester, working 1-2 days/week with possible weekend shifts
• Events
• Education/Summer Camps
• Marketing/Public Relations
• Education/Recreation
• submit a resume, application, signed contract (available on website) 
• more information here
• Vizcaya House Museum (Miami): offers unpaid and paid opportunities in the fall, spring, and summer; internships:
• Learning Programs Facilitators (paid) (10 months, Sept-May, recruit in June-Aug)
• Special Events 
• Horticulture
• Collections and Curatorial Division
• Learning Division

Long Branch Plantation house museum Internships (Virginia)

Long Branch Plantation is a house museum and event venue in Clark County, VA, near Winchester. The Greek Revival mansion sits on acres of rolling farmland, home to a house farm, pond, and plenty of scenic greenery backed by the Appalachian mountains. Long Branch seeks to innovate the experience of a house museum and make it more relevant to today's visitors. It also offers public programming and a horse retirement facility. This undiscovered jewel of a historic home offers internships in a variety of departments.

Internship Information:

• Chance to complete independent projects
• Hands-on learning opportunities
• Create original work to share with public
• Departments available to complete projects in:
• Historic Preservation
• Digital History 
• Social Media
• Archival Research
• Marketing/Community Outreach
• Content Creation: Exhibits, Brochures, and Web
• Event Planning
• To apply, email resume with a short statement of interest
• More information available here

Volunteer and employment opportunities can be found here.

Hawaii Museum Internship and Volunteer Jobs

The Bishop Museum is dedicated to interpreting history and science with interactive exhibits and breath-taking displays. The museum offers internships in science and museum work that vary according to need by season (this fall is entomology but the deadline has passed). More info here. (Honolulu, O'ahu).

The Honolulu Museum of Art has a collection of fine art, sculpture, textiles, and prints from across the world, but with a featured collection of Asian and Hawaiian artwork. They post internships and jobs here when available.

The Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor features vintage military planes, flight simulators, and exhibits detailing the history of World War II aviation and battles. They welcome volunteers in guest services, education, airplane restoration, administration, and other departments. More info here. (Fort Island, HI - near Honolulu)

Shangri La, Dorris Duke's Islamic-style home that now displays her Islamic art collection, welcomes scholars-in-residence interested in studying Islamic arts and culture as well as artists-in-residence. Learn more here. The museum also holds symposia periodically. Learn more here. (Honolulu)

Other opportunities:

• Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archive (Honolulu)
• Lyman Museum and Mission House (Hilo, HI)
• Maui Historical Society and Bailey House Museum (Wailuku, Maui, HI)
• Pacific Tsunami Museum (Hilo, HI)

Check out other Hawai'i Museums on the Hawai'i Museums Association website. Looking for a change of scenery? Check out their job listings!

James Madison's Montpelier House Museum Archaeology Internships (Virginia)

Montpelier was the stately neoclassical home and gardens of James Madison. Located in Orange, Virginia, the home was restored not too long ago and has an active archaeology program, running on-site excavations and an object assessment lab where visitors can learn about the process of excavating and identifying artifacts. The house museum offers archaeology internships as well as field schools for non-students.

Internship Opportunities:

• College students and recent graduates
• Must attend one of their 4-5 week archaeological field schools (accredited through JMU and SUNY Plattsburg) 
• Summer and year-long opportunities available
• Field and lab internships
• Some paid positions, some unpaid
• Housing is provided
• Cover letter and CV required for field school application
• More info here

Learn about other archaeology programs (including a teacher program).

Learn about available jobs and volunteer work here.

New Jersey Small Museums Internships - Part II

The first set of New Jersey small museums internships can be found here.

• The Howell Living History Farm, an 130-acre farm interpreted as a working farm in the early 1900s, offers an internship program in self-sufficient farming. Interns work for 12 weeks in the summer, spring, or fall and gain experience working with livestock, crop processing, gardening, and even wood and metalworking, as well as other tasks depending on the season. The opportunity is open to students and non-students. Sounds pretty cool! More info here. (Lambertville, NJ)
• The Museum of Early Trades and Crafts welcomes volunteer student interns. Those interested can send in a resume. Volunteers are welcome to work in programming, education, and visitor services. Sounds like a cool museum! More info here. (Madison, NJ)
• The Passaic County Historical Society has a house museum (Lambert Castle), museum, and library. They welcome high school and college age volunteer interns to work in collections, visitor services, events, research, library work, archival work, etc. More info here. (Paterson, NJ) 
• The Thomas Edison Museum at Menlo Park offers internship opportunities in Archives (college degree required) and Education (undergrad or grad), requesting two to three days work a week. More info here. (Edison, NJ)
• The Metlar Bodine House is a house museum and the historical museum of the Piscataway, NJ township.They welcome volunteers to work in Education, Preservation, Collections, PR, Tourism/Programming, Finance and Development, and Planning. More info here.
• The Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center welcome volunteers, especially those interested in visitor services and leading tours. More info here. (Little Falls, NJ - Montclair State Univ. campus)
• The Grounds for Sculpture sculpture garden welcomes volunteers, who can work as docents or help in the Education, Performing Arts, Guest Services,Gardens, etc., and college and grad student interns interested in museum work. Internship info here. Volunteer info here. (Hamilton, NJ)
• The Hoboken Historical Museum offers volunteer work, in particular to help with their events and festivals. More info here. (Hoboken, NJ)
• The Twin Lights Museum is housed in a former lighthouse and is dedicated to interpreting lighthouse history and has volunteer work available in programming, education, and visitor services, as well as children's programming. More info here. (Highlands, NJ)
• The Whippany Railway Museum welcomes volunteers over 21 years old willing to do physical labor. More info here. (Whippany, NJ)

Other New Jersey Historic Sites:

• Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities & Emlen Physick Estate (Victorian home) - Cape May, NJ
• Walt Whitman Birthplace - Camden, NJ

Another list of New Jersey-area museum internships can be found here on the Seton Hall University's Museum Professions Internships page.

Browse other Northeastern, New York City, and Mid-Atlantic area museum internships.

Hagley Museum and Library Fellowships (DE)

Hagley Museum and Library is an educational institution and museum in Wilmington, DE consisting of the du Pont family's first home and gardens, gun powder yards, and a machine shop, a testament to nineteenth century industry. The du Ponts invented gun powder and owned and built a number of prominent properties in Delaware, now many of which are prominent museums. The museum, a Smithsonian affiliate, also contains a research library which offers fellowships and research grants to scholars conducting work that might benefit from the museum's resources.

Fellowship Information:

• Exploratory Research Grants: for one-week scholarly research visits
• Tri-annual consideration
• Due dates: March 31, June 30, October 31
• Henry Belin du Pont Research Grants: for up to eight weeks of research for more in-depth work
• Tri-annual consideration
• Due dates: March 31, June 30, October 31
• Henry Belin du Pont Dissertation Fellowships: for grad students who have completed coursework for a doctoral degree - up to four months
• Due date: November 15
• Dissertation Fellowship in Business and Politics: for grad students who have completed coursework for a doctoral degree - up to one year
• Due date: November 15
• Opportunities to give informal talks, write on the museum's research and collections blog, and participate in its scholarly interview programs are available
• Housing is available onsite for scholars
• More information can be found on the website

Volunteer opportunities are listed on the website, including opportunities for youth and for groups.

The museum also has a Youth Leadership Program for teens, which helps participants build professional skills and learn in the process. Applications are typically due in Late March.

Employment opportunities are posted on this page on the organization's website.

Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Internships (Chicago)

The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust runs a few properties in the Chicago area, their central offices being at The Rookery in downtown Chicago with the additional properties of Wright's Oak Park Home and Studio, the Robie House, and the ShopWright Merchandise Center. Interns can be placed at any of these locations. Internships are offered year-round and detailed postings are placed on the Trust's website when a position is open.

Internship Information: 

• Students, graduates, and career-changers welcome
• Open to arranging academic credit with student's home institution
• Internships offered within certain departments
• An effort is made to match intern's interest with assigned duties
• For more information and current listings, check here: http://www.flwright.org/aboutus/employmentandinternships

Information about volunteering, including docent opportunities, can be found here.

Fallingwater Internships (PA)

Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's Western Pennsylvania home, offers paid summer internships with housing. Sounds like a sweet deal!

Internship information:

• Open to undergraduates and graduate students (completed or close to completion)
• 10 weeks, 40 hours/week
• Paid
• Housing on site
• Summer
• Possible majors of interest: Museum studies, Library/Information Science, Landscape architecture, horticulture, historic preservation, architecture, arts education, art history, etc
• Offered through the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, who runs the home
• Information and yearly listing located here: http://waterlandlife.org/412/internships

The Western PA Conservancy also offers a Watershed Conservation Intern as well as other short- and long-term hands-on internships and part-time unpaid fall and spring semester internships, I'm guessing in landscaping and nature conservancy-related fields. Learn more here.

The Society of the Cincinnati, DC Anderson House Museum Grad Internships and Fellowships

The Society of the Cincinnati's Anderson House Museum and society headquarters, located in northwest DC on embassy row in Dupont Circle, offers two internships in museum work for graduate students featuring stipends as well as library research fellowships. The Society is a hereditary group comprised of male descendants of Revolutionary War officers. The Anderson House is an early twentieth century mansion filled with intriguing decorative arts amassed by Society member and American ambassador Larz Anderson in his travels through the world, including choir stalls from a European church and other large, incredible stuff that rich, well-traveled people are able to obtain. It's a breath-taking place and also home to the Society's Revolutionary War and George Washington-related memorabilia, maps, documents, books, and objects.

Note: There is a special 2017 library fellowship relating to colonial American history open for application until November 11, 2016. Read more here.

Housing is not offered but the house is a short walk from the Dupont Circle metro station (and close to a multitude of Starbuckses).

Internship Opportunities:

• Collections Management:
• American Revolution and/or Gilded Age emphasis
• $1,500 stipend
• Grad student studying art history, material culture, museums, etc. interested in a museum career
• Care, preservation, and documentation of museum collections
• Daily work of the museum and/or independent project
• Curatorial Work and Interpretation:
• Exhibitions, curatorial research, and education emphasis
• $2,000 stipend
• Strong research and writing skills
• History and material culture of early 19th century America and/or Gilded Age DC interest 

Detailed listings posted on the website when available. Find out more here: http://www.societyofthecincinnati.org/scholarship/fellow_intern/museum_internships

Volunteer opportunities are also available for interested parties over age eighteen, including public programming and docent work. Learn more here.

----------

Library fellowships are also offered - three per year:

• $1,500 stipend for travel, housing, expenses
• Graduate students and other scholars wishing to use library resources 
• 2017 Fellowship: The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Maryland Fellowship for any scholar interested in an American colonial period subject (November 11, 2016 due date)
• One year from date of the award given to complete research using library
• Library requests a copy of publication resulting from research
• A 3 to 5 page report on findings must also be written

Application Requirements:

• CV
• 2 page or less research proposal
• (If grad student) 2 sealed letters of professorial recommendation
• Cite specific library holdings that will aid research

Additionally, an annual lecture is given on a subject related to the Revolutionary War. Read more here. 

Dumbarton Oaks DC House Museum Fellowships

Dumbarton Oaks is a historic house in Georgetown, a historic neighborhood in northwest DC, that serves as a research institute for the study of the Byzantine Empire, Pre-Columbian America, and garden and landscapes. It is affiliated with Harvard University and offers residential fellowships and non-residential grants for advanced graduate and doctoral students as well as postdoctoral scholars. Fellowships relate to the study of any of the three areas of expertise mentioned above.

For more information, visit the website here: http://www.doaks.org/research

Fellowship Opportunities:

• Residential fellowships for the academic year, semester, or summer
• Byzantine Studies, Pre-Columbian Studies, and Garden and Landscape Studies
• One-month non-residential awards
• Short-term predoctoral residencies to advanced graduate students
• Additional talks, lectures, and annual symposia in each field
• Project Grants for archaeological research
• Opportunities for Harvard students (as if they weren't privileged enough)
• Ongoing online publication of Byzantine seals and coins
• Additional projects and learning opportunities

Due dates: Vary depending on program. February 1 and March 1 for the fellowship and the month-long residency programs, respectively, and then October 1 and November 1 for a springtime fellowship or month-long residency.

So if any of those things are your jam, go ahead and check this great program out. The home and gardens look stunning! 

Northwest DC House Museum Internships

Dumbarton House, the headquarters of the National Society of the Colonial Dames, offers internships for graduate students or recent grads of master's programs in the spring, summer, and fall. The positions have specific projects in mind and typically offer a stipend and are listed on their website as they become available. The current summer internship has an application deadline of early April, for reference. The other seasons tend to be open until filled, but be cautioned that they tend to leave listings up even after the deadline is passed or the position is filled, so check with the contact person to see if the position is still open before going through the effort of applying. They don't offer housing and applicants should be forewarned that there is plenty of competition, especially for education internships, from GWU museum education grad students. But it is a lovely federal-style house in beautiful historic Georgetown.

• Stipends for most internships
• Summer, fall, spring internships
• Specific projects
• Internships in Education, Marketing, etc. 
• Graduate students preferred (although the author got an interview as an undergraduate)
• Historic home focusing in 18th and early 19th century American history
• Parking (though a difficult area to drive in) or a mile+ walk from Dupont Circle Metro 
• Typical application requirements: Cover letter and resume (email or mail)
• Typical due date: Beginning of April.

Individual listings include more specific details.

Open Positions Listings link: http://dumbartonhouse.org/archives/2769 

• Interested parties can also volunteer as docents, researchers, public programming assistants, gardeners, and marketing and office workers. The docent training is held at certain times, the last listed one being in February 2016. Get more information here: http://dumbartonhouse.org/volunteer-information

------

Tudor Place is another historic home in Georgetown, a beautiful neighborhood in northwest DC with many hidden historic treasures! The house is beautiful and has an incredible array of public programming as well as a must-see garden. They offer a variety of education and visitor programming internships as well as some marketing and development, gardening, and even design internships. Specific programs are posted each season on their web site, offering special projects to work on. 

• Typically 15-25 hours per week or 2-3 days per week
• Specific projects and positions
• Academic credit available
• Graduate preference but consideration given to strong undergrads (the author got an interview as an undergrad)
• Internships in Education, Visitor Services, Public Programming, Marketing, Gardening, etc., varying from season to season
• Historic house museum focusing on American history
• Parking and public transportation (bus and/or long walk from Dupont Circle or Tenleytown metro)
• Typical due date: Beginning of April
• Typical application process: email cover letter and resume

Individual listings include more specific details.

Visit the museum's web page for current internship listings: https://www.tudorplace.org/get-involved/employment/

Interested parties can also volunteer as house or garden tour docents as well as special event and public programming assistants, gardeners, and office work assistants. More information here: https://www.tudorplace.org/get-involved/volunteer/

------