History Major Internships: Unveiling Opportunities for Aspiring Historians

For history majors, finding internships can be an exciting step toward launching a fulfilling career. With a multitude of career path options, studying history opens doors to diverse internship experiences. There will always be an opening for a great history internship, as the field is always looking for capable history focused college students to help and hire. These internships provide invaluable opportunities to explore various facets of history, connect with mentors, and gain practical skills that are highly sought after in the professional world.

Why Pursue a History Internship?

Internships offer history students a unique chance to apply their academic knowledge in real-world settings. As a major with so many career path options, choosing to study history gives you many types of internships to consider. They provide a taste of what it’ll be like to work in history down the line, allowing students to explore different areas of interest and refine their career goals. In your history internships you’ll gain skills in writing, teamwork, organization, accountability, and problem-solving among many others. Informative or prestigious history internship programs strengthen resumes, provide valuable avenues to letters of recommendation, and can even turn into full-time jobs. Internship opportunities for history students can foster great exploration of the field, since there are so many paths in history to consider and understand. If you consider all of these perks of a history internship and add the benefit of exploring different facets of one field, then start your history internship search now! Furthermore, internships facilitate networking, allowing students to build relationships with industry professionals and fellow interns.

Essential Skills Gained Through History Internships

History internships equip students with a range of essential skills that are highly valued by employers. Along with networking and gaining mentorship, history interns will spend time working on skills great for later in their career journeys. history interns will learn how to plan and execute concrete goals, communicate their visions effectively, project manage and collaborate with a team on a shared goal. During your history internship, you’ll learn some great generic skills like time management, accountability, organization, and teamwork. Additionally, you’ll be immersed in the world of history which will help you develop your knowledge of research methods, how to manage projects effectively, and a deep understanding of your area of study. These include:

Research and Analytical Skills: Interns develop expertise in gathering, evaluating, and interpreting historical data.
Communication Skills: They hone their ability to present historical information clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing.
Critical Thinking: Internships foster critical thinking skills, enabling students to analyze historical events and draw informed conclusions.
Project Management: Interns learn to manage projects effectively, from planning and execution to completion.
Teamwork and Collaboration: They gain experience working collaboratively with colleagues, contributing to shared goals.

Resume and Profile Optimization

Before embarking on the internship application process, it's essential to ensure that your resume and online profiles are up to date and showcase your skills and experiences effectively. With a complete profile, an impressive history internship is more attainable than ever. Recruiters are much more likely to message a student with a complete profile that says you want to work in history than an unfinished one. When putting together your resume, make sure to have all your skills, courses, and accomplishments laid out for employers to view. Also having your preferred job role and location on your Handshake profile is a great way to signal your interest to potential recruiters.

For history interns, some great skills to list would be specific research skills, time management, ability to follow through and execute, and ability to contribute and collaborate in a team setting.

Read also: Internship Guide

Interview Preparation

Landing an internship interview requires preparation and confidence. When you do land your first interview, be it a virtual interview or in person, make sure to come prepared and dressed to impress. Review your resume and cover letter to make sure you have specific examples of your experience to share, from clubs or coursework. You can even schedule a mock interview with your university’s career center or, if you’re tight on time, ask a trusted friend to grill you on some common interview questions.

Networking Strategies

Once you’ve landed an internship in history and settled into the flow of day-to-day life at the office, start chatting with your coworkers. Whether they’re industry professionals or fellow interns, it’s important to treat them with equal respect. You never know what insights they could lend, or who could be a valuable connection down the line, five or ten years from now. Don’t be afraid to ask your new colleagues out for quick coffee chats, or request 15-minute informational interviews about their career trajectory.

Maximizing Internship Value

Looking for specific advice before your internship begins? Or are you hungry for further information even after your internship is over? A good way to delve even deeper into your career path growth is to attend a virtual event or two. Not only will you be learning more about your own career, but there will also be chances to network with employers, industry specialists, and other students sharing different perspectives.

Internship Opportunities for History Majors

The range of internship opportunities available to history majors is vast and diverse, spanning various sectors and organizations. Here are some notable examples:

Museums and Historical Societies:

American Folk Art Museum: Based in New York, the AFA Museum offers multiple internships for college students, graduate students, and “emerging professionals” (recent grads).
Asia Society and Museum: The Asia Society Museum offers internships in New York, Washington D.C., and northern California.
Bronx Museum of the Arts: This organization has three separate internships in marketing and communications, gallery coordination, and community outreach.
Brooklyn Children’s Museum: The BCM does offer internships, but even if they are filled you can apply for one of their part-time jobs.
Children’s Museum of Manhattan: You can find the Jobs & Internships section detailed at the bottom of the About page.
Colonial Williamsburg: This location offers both internships and fellowships. Some of the internships may even earn you a college credit, if your school approves it.
Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum: The Cooper-Hewitt Museum is affiliated with the Smithsonian, and it offers three annual internships for conservation, curating, and graphic design.
Frick Collection: Art history majors may have a leg up on this internship, but the Frick Collection houses more than just paintings.
Guggenheim Museum: These internships are specifically for undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing careers in museums.
John F. Kennedy Library and Museum: This is an excellent place to find internships for history majors, offering positions in archives processing, archives digitization, and archives reference.
Kansas Historical Society: KHS offers mostly unpaid internships, but they are highly relevant to history grads (unsurprisingly).
Merchant’s House Museum: Here you’ll find semester-long academic internships that cover decorative arts, textiles and costumes, architecture, education, and museum administration.
Museum of the City of New York: The MCNY offers internships during academic semesters in digital projects, marketing and communications, and even information technology.
Museum of the Moving Image: If you want to try your hand at a hybrid history-film internship, then check out the MMI program. It runs over the winter/spring academic term.
Metropolitan Museum of Art: At the MoMA you can find internships that generally run along the semester system. The Met has a large selection of internships for history majors, and many of them are paid. These include 10-week programs in the summer and fall, 9-month and 12-month programs, as well as a conservatorship program for graduate students.
National Museum of the American Indian: Here you can find internships in Maryland, Washington D.C., and New York-as well as some opportunities for virtual internships. It claims to accept roughly 25% of applicants, which is actually promising.
Ohio History: Ohio History offers at least two internships, including the Collections Management Intern and the Collections Support Intern.
Peabody Essex Museum: PEM offers at least five internships that touch on history.
Pritzker Military Museum and Library: Offers internships in archives, cataloging, marketing, oral history, reference services, research, digital projects, and tour leadership. Located in Chicago, the Pritzker’s programs and services focus on the role of the citizen soldier in the preservation of democracy.
Smithsonian Institute: The Smithsonian has quite a wide range of internship programs for history majors for you to check out. Seriously, there are a few dozen listed here at least. Scroll down this linked page-the formatting is quite bad.
United States Capitol Historical Society: The USCHS offers internships over three sessions: spring, summer, and fall.
National Air and Space Museum Internships Summer internships provide opportunities in positions in aviation or space history, digital experience, exhibit and graphic design, and education. Apply by February 15.
Smithsonian Exhibits Internships Ten-week internships for college students or recent graduates to gain professional experience in exhibit planning, design, exhibit writing, graphics, fabrication, 3D modelling, and installation. Apply by February 15.
National Museum of American History Internships The museum offers upper-level undergraduates internship opportunities in a variety of fields, including archival science, curatorial projects, and exhibition design and graphic production. Application deadlines for spring, summer, and fall sessions, respectively, are October 15, March 1 and July 1.
National Museum of the American Indian Internships Internships are an opportunity for students to learn about the museum’s collections, exhibitions, programs, and methodologies, and to meet professionals in the museum field. Application deadlines for spring, summer, and fall sessions, respectively, are November 20, February 6, and July 12.
Smithsonian Libraries Internships Internships for students interested in exploring a career in library and information science.

Government Agencies:

City of Chicago: Here you’ll find a wide range of internships that span from housing to law enforcement and everything in between.
City of Madison: Madison has four internship programs: Affirmative Action Student Professionals in Residence, the Law Student Internship Program, the Madison Public LIbrary, and the Wanda Fullmore Youth Internship Program.
Department of State: If you’re interested in applying your history degree to international relations, then this is the place to land an internship. It has four separate internship programs-yes, programs-that span foreign services, federal service, and dedicated student programs. Department of State offers paid and unpaid internships for college students. The positions might be in Washington, D.C.
NASA History Division: NASA takes on two interns at a time for paid positions (one graduate and one undergraduate).
National Park Service: This isn’t just for environmental preservation. The NPS also covers the preservation of historic locations, buildings, and monuments. National Park Service Heritage Documentation Program Summer employment for students enrolled in at least a half-time course load. Students will document historic sites and structures of architectural, landscape, and technological significance throughout the country. National Park Service Sally Kress Tompkins Maritime Documentation Internship Summer internship working on the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) maritime documentation project. Students of architecture and history are encouraged to apply.
Texas Historical Commission (THC) Internship Program: The THC Internship Program is designed to provide undergraduate and graduate level students unpaid internships within a selected agency division or program; thereby exposing them to the benefits of choosing historic preservation as a career. This is in compliance with the mission of the THC to protect and preserve the state’s historic and prehistoric resources for the use, education, enjoyment, and economic benefit of present and future generations. Internships can include, but are not limited to, practical experience in archeology, architecture, community development, historic preservation, history, economic development and planning, marketing communications, and administration.
FDR Presidential Library & Museum Internship Internship opportunities can include the development of educational programs and materials for students and teachers of all grade levels; computer projects to help streamline the research process; public relations; archival research; the development of exhibits; and a variety of other activities. Applications due by April 1.

Non-Profit Organizations:

American Civil Liberties Union: As of writing, the ACLU has 20 open internships, most of them legal positions.
Amnesty International: You’ll find quite a few internships available through Amnesty International alongside a handful of full-time jobs as well.
Bronx Oral History Project: Contact the team about an internship through the link provided for history majors and you might just find yourself collecting and preserving interviews.
Environment America: These internships aren’t about history, but you can certainly learn to put your skills to work by supporting the environment.
Gilder Lehrman Institute: Here you’ll find two internship cycles-one in the summer semester and one during the academic year. These are generally meant for undergraduates, but they do take on graduate students once in a while, too.
National Endowment for the Humanities Internship Students work in program and administrative offices of the Endowment in areas ranging from Congressional affairs, communications, and publications to education, research, and public programs, and preservation and access. Applications are accepted throughout the year and volunteer internships may be eligible for academic credit.

Other Opportunities:

D.C. Internships: Here you’ll find internships dedicated to students in the Washington, D.C.
History News Network: This is one of the few organizations that combine history with modern media, focusing on publishing stories online.
Institute for Humane Studies: You won’t always find internships here, but there are a lot of entry-level jobs that cover similar duties as internships. Those can include operations coordinators, academic relations specialists, and social media specialists.
Monona Terrace: Monona Terrace offers the George A. Nelson Student Internship, which is paid.
New England Museum Association: NEMA can connect you with history internships across the north-east, including Boston, Ticonderoga, Cambridge, Arlington, and others.
New York Public Library: The NYPL does offer a few internships, though you have to navigate to an off-site job board to find them (search for “intern” here).

Tips and Tricks for Finding History Internships

When searching for history internships, it’s key to use the location filters provided on Handshake. You’ll be able to pinpoint history internships exactly where you want to intern just by selecting the city you want in the search bar. Easy history internships in your preferred city are just a search away.

Read also: Navigating College History Class

You can even research possible job roles that you might want to explore during your history internship. Handshake also makes it easy to learn about roles in history simply by using the job role search bar.

And if you want to take your research one step further, you can even research top employers in the history field on Handshake. Just by using the Handshake employer search feature you can discover companies that are hiring in your specific field by filtering by “Industry.”

Some companies that would be great for history majors looking for internships: Teach for America, College Possible, or Zayo.

Career Paths for History Majors

Internships in history can fall under any of the following roles we’ve listed here for you! Internships are meant to guide you towards your true desired career path and your summer 2021 history internship could kick it off in the right direction.

For internships, it doesn’t matter if you’re on the hunt for history internships in Boston, history channel internships, history internships in Dallas, public history internships in Iowa, or art history internships in Chicago. The following job roles and suggestions on where to apply for history internships can guide you in the right direction for whatever you’re looking for.

Archivist: Archivists and curators oversee collections of historical pieces-be it art or other items. Companies you can apply to: College Possible, LAC Group, Newfields. Average pay: $49,850
Librarian: Librarians assist with searching for information and also conduct their own research. Companies you can apply to: College Possible, Reading Partners, LAC Group. Average pay: $59,050
Paralegal: Paralegals and legal assistants assist lawyers by preparing legal documents, investigating facts in a case, and researching past cases. This role involves research and comprehensive legal knowledge. Companies you can apply to: International Rescue Committee, New Western Acquisitions, Zayo. Average pay: $41,600
Historian: Historians use their research, analysis, and previous knowledge to understand the past. Companies you can apply to: Minerva Schools at KGI, The Vera Institute of Justice. Average pay: $63,680
High School Teacher: High school teachers are responsible for educating students from ninth through twelfth grade, often in more than one subject area, such as English, mathematics, biology, and history. Companies you can apply to: Teach for America, EF Education First, BASIS Charter Schools. Average pay: $40,000
Editor: Editors revise and prepare materials to be published in print and digital media. They often work at newspapers, magazine publications, book publishing houses, and media networks. Companies you can apply to: Quibbl, Hearst Magazines, Paravane Ventures. Average pay: $33,280

Are History Internships Paid?

Yes, you can find paid history internships on Handshake by using the search filters! The average annual pay for full time history jobs range from $33,280 to $63,680. The average annual pay for full time jobs in history range from $33,280 to $63,680.

Are Internships Necessary for History Majors?

While it's not required, internships are great opportunities for growth and experience. From history internships for undergraduates to great seasonal history internships, you’ll be able to build both hard and soft skills and even network.

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