Internship Opportunities

Below are internship descriptions for the upcoming fall 2009 semester.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at vservice@brooklynhistory.org.

Visitor Service Intern
Oral History Interns & Volunteers

Archival Description Intern
Photographic Reference Intern
Library Reference Intern
Development Intern

Visitor Services / Administrative Intern –

Winter 2009 & Spring 2010

The Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) is seeking one Visitor Services / Administrative Intern for the Fall and Spring Semesters.  Internships are unpaid, however may be applied toward course credit.

Responsibilities
The Visitor Services / Administrative Intern will gain exposure to both the front-of-house and behind-the-scenes workings of the museum through helping at the front desk and in the President’s Office. This internship involves facilitating public access to the museum, working to develop and expand visitor information, and aiding in marketing and promotion of the museum and exhibits, coupled with providing administrative assistance to the President’s Office.

Qualifications
College students seeking course credit are encouraged to apply. Looking for someone who is outgoing and comfortable with customer interactions in person and by phone. Must be organized and able to work independently on tasks. Candidates with prior customer service, marketing, museum and/or office experience preferred.

Time Commitment
1 full day (minimum 6 hours) per week, Tuesday- Friday. Wednesdays or Thursdays preferred. May be increased to 2 days per week to meet course hour requirements.

Please fill out the Internship Application and send with a resume and brief cover letter to: jmonger@brooklynhistory.org or

Janice Monger
Manager of Administration & Visitor Services
Brooklyn Historical Society
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Oral History Interns & Volunteers

Sunset Park Oral History Project
Responsibility:
Transferring oral history interviews conducted in Cantonese and Mandarin from cassette tape to digital audio.  Summarizing (in English) content of interview.

Qualifications:
Conversational fluency in Cantonese or Mandarin and English is required.
No previous digitizing experience necessary although comfort with audio and computers is helpful. 

Time Commitment:
60 hours total for project completion.  Flexible schedule TBD, Tu – Fri, 10 – 5pm.

Oral History Transcriptions
Responsibility:
Transcribing oral history interviews (verbatim, including “ums and ahs”, with time signature) from BHS Collection.

Qualifications:
Previous transcribing experience preferred but not necessary.  Attention to detail required. 

Time Commitment:
Interviews range from 1 – 12 hours in length.  Transcribing takes three times the running time of the audio: a 1 hour interview would take 3 hours to transcribe.  This work can be done from home.

Please fill out the Internship Application and send with a resume and brief cover letter to:  vservice@brooklynhistory.org or

Internship Coordinator
Brooklyn Historical Society
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-222-4111 x 250

Archival Description Intern

Brooklyn Historical Society Othmer Library is seeking interns for the Summer Semester in their archive and manuscript collections. Internships are unpaid; BHS is happy to work with students looking to fulfill internship course credits.

Responsibilities

This internship will focus on archival description and collection management. Using Archivist’s Toolkit, intern will enter existing descriptive information for collections from legacy finding-aids, enhance description for under-described collections, and create new description for collections with no description. Interns may also be tasked with tracking workflow on project, maintaining changes to cataloging manual and other tasks as needed. 

Qualifications

Interested candidate must be a graduate student in an archives program, or in a library science or history program with some archival coursework or experience. An interest in and knowledge of Brooklyn history is encouraged, but not required.

Intern must have completed introduction to archives class. Intern should be interested in archival description; be familiar with DACS, standardized vocabularies such as LCSH and Getty AAT; and have a basic understanding of relational databases. Familiarity with Archivist’s Toolkit is ideal but not required.

Time Commitment

Minimum 1 full day per week, Tuesday- Friday

Please fill out the Internship Application and send with a resume and brief cover letter to:  vservice@brooklynhistory.org or

Internship Coordinator
Brooklyn Historical Society
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-222-4111 x 250

Photographic Reference Intern

The Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) is seeking interns for the Summer Semester in the Library and Photography Collections. Descriptions of intern duties in each category are described below. Interns must be available one full day a week (6 hour minimum) Tuesday – Friday.  Internships are unpaid; BHS is happy to work with students looking to fulfill internship course credits.

Responsibilities
Photographic collections internship will focus on reference work.  Under the supervision of the Photo Archivist, intern will track reference queries; answer ready reference and research questions via email, phone and post.  The intern will also be expected to answer in-person reference questions across all collections during open library hours.  This internship offers an opportunity to gain experience with image-specific topics in a photographic archival setting among different levels and approaches to archival description.

Qualifications

Interested candidate must be a graduate student in a library science program. An interest in and knowledge of Brooklyn history is encouraged, but not required. Other requirements include:

• Must be able to lift and carry library materials and equipment; stoop, reach, walk up and down stairs, and stand and sit for prolonged periods of time
• Must be able to lift and carry library materials and equipment weighing up to 30 lbs
• Must be able to work in conditions where dust and mold are sometimes encountered

Time Commitment

Minimum 1 full day per week, Tuesday- Friday

Please fill out the Internship Application and send with a resume and brief cover letter to: 

• Must be able to lift and carry library materials and equipment; stoop, reach, walk up and down stairs, and stand and sit for prolonged periods of time
• Must be able to lift and carry library materials and equipment weighing up to 30 lbs
• Must be able to work in conditions where dust and mold are sometimes encountered

Time Commitment

Minimum 1 full day per week, Tuesday- Friday

Please fill out the Internship Application and send with a resume and brief cover letter to:

Development Intern

The Brooklyn Historical Society is a museum, library, and educational center dedicated to encouraging the exploration and appreciation of Brooklyn’s rich heritage. The Society seeks an intern for its Development department, focusing on tasks in the marketing and fundraising areas.

Responsibilities

• Research potential funders

• Assist in developing proposals and letters to funders

• Draft press releases and email blasts

• Follow-up calls to press contacts
• Research local cultural organizations for potential collaborations with the Brooklyn Historical Society
• Designing flyers for BHS events
• Developing comprehensive listing of neighborhood locations to distribute BHS promotional materials to; distributing these materials on a regular basis
• Assisting in membership administration and marketing
• Additional administrative support for various communications as needed

Qualifications

• Currently enrolled or recently graduated undergraduate or graduate student
• Some experience in marketing, public relations, or communications preferred (prior employment or undergraduate studies)
• Comfortable with Microsoft Office
• Solid written and oral communication skills

Time Commitment:  1 -2 days per week (Monday-Friday).


Please fill out the Internship Application and send with a resume and cover letter to:  vservice@brooklynhistory.org or

Internship Coordinator
Brooklyn Historical Society
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-222-4111 x 250

BACK TO TOP