The Museum of Science (Boston)
Please see instructions on how to apply at the bottom of this page.
The Museum of Science has a rich 193-year history, with records dating back even before the institution’s founding in 1830. Its archives represent not only the Museum’s history, but the history of Boston and other cultural and educational institutions in the area.
Working in the Museum’s Archives Department, an intern will be given an archival processing and digitization project, centered around a subject matter that is of the intern’s interest.
Subject matter ranges in records’ medium (book, illustrations, photography, paper records, digital records, and beyond) and records’ themes (art, exhibitions, space, biodiversity, landscapes, and beyond).
Specific tasks for this project will include accessioning, inventorying, arranging, rehousing, scanning records, collecting metadata, and ingesting scans and meta data into the archives database and the Museum’s institutional digital asset management system.
Some examples of projects might be if an intern wanted to focus on collections management of paintings, a project could entail confirming their physical locations, reporting a painting’s condition, and updating the database to make sure records are correct.
Another potential project would be if the intern would like to focus on the Museum’s art exhibitions, they could inventory the records, research the artists, and update our database with records relating to the art and artists.
The Senior Archivist and intern will determine at the start of the project what scope of tasks need to be done for their project.
Intern Responsibilities:
Encompass supporting the archives collections stewardship and access of archival materials through gathering records, processing, digitizing, digital curation, and reference research.
While the intern will spend most of their time working on their assigned project, they can also support the Senior Archivist with short-term and long-term solutions for making archival content more accessible to the public.
The intern will gain experience in archival collection management and learn what it takes to work in both a museum archives and a small archives team within a larger organization.
Broadly, the intern will develop professional skills in digital and physical records and information management, project management, database management, and working on a small core team.
The intern will ultimately support the Museum and its mission,“to inspire a lifelong love of science in everyone” with their project.
By preserving archival materials, the intern will contribute to making scientific archival material accessible to local and global audiences, including new and repeated users of the archives, whichcould spark learning opportunities for individuals and create new scholarship within academic fields.
The intern should have the following qualifications:
Demonstrated organizational skills with attention to detail and accuracy.
Demonstrated research, reading, and writing skills.
Flexibility to work independently and collaboratively as needed.
Interns will work onsite 28 hours per week and attend a mandatory offsite program day one day per week with their cohort.
Interns must be available for the duration of the program.
INTERNSHIP DURATION:
Total Weeks: 9 weeks
Work Hours per Week: 28
Total Hours: 252
Workdays: 4 days per week onsite
PROGRAM DAY:
On the 5th day of each week, interns will attend an offsite program day with their cohort.
These hours are separate from the internship hours.
The ICA is dedicated to building a culturally diverse and pluralistic staff committed to working in a multicultural environment. Qualified candidates from groups historically underrepresented in the museum professions are strongly encouraged to apply. The ICA is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to being an inclusive workplace as well as increasing diversity in our workforce. We are an EOE/AA employer dedicated to fair and inclusive employment practices for all individuals.