History

For Current Students

Depending on your interests and experience, the following internships would make good use of your historical and liberal arts education. Most of these internships do not require a major in history, but each shows some preference for, or requires, history training. Many of these locations also have full-time jobs available.

Why study history? How does history prepare me for the world? 

Dayton.com, Opinion: America and the world need history majorsAn Op-Ed by John Pepper, former CEO and chairman of P&G, former chairman of the Board of The Walt Disney Corp., and former CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, reflects on his undergraduate studies as a history major and makes a case for why the study of history prepares people to change the world.

Internships For History Students

You may be able to earn academic credit for your internship. Before applying, contact any faculty member in the History department or Career Services. Please also contact the History department or Career Services if you know of an internship that does not appear on this list.

American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, DC. A conservative think-tank. See their web site for details.

Amnesty International, various locations. See their web site for details.

Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX. See their web site for details.

Austin Chronicle, Austin, TX. See their web site for details.

Brookings Institution, Washington, DC. A public policy think tank. See their web site for details.

Children’s Defense Fund, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

Congressional internships, Washington, DC. Look up your home district’s Congressional representative or one of your state’s two senators, and contact them about internship possibilities.

Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

Federal government internships, Washington, DC. A list of some of the many internships available within the U.S. government, including the White House Fellows Program, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Presidential Management Intern Program, Minority Leaders Fellowship Program, Workforce Recruitment Program For College Students With Disabilities, Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, Organization of Chinese Americans’ Congressional and Government Internships, Washington Internships For Native Students, Women in Public Policy Internship Program, and many others.

Feminist Majority, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

Field Museum, Chicago. A natural history museum. See their web site for details.

German Historical Institute, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

Getsemani Community Center, Georgetown, TX. Randy Cauley, the community developer at Getsemani and a Southwestern graduate, said he would gladly encourage history students to develop community projects that have a historical focus. Contact the Career Center Internship Coordinator for more details.

Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York, NY. This institute is focused on K-12 historical education and promotes American history through public programs and resources! See their web site for details on their internships.

Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, MI. See their web site for details.

Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC. A conservative think tank. See their web site for details.

Heritage Society, Houston, TX. See their web site for details.

Historical Alexandria/Alexandria Archeological Museum, Alexandria, VA (near Washington, DC). See their web site for details.

Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, Elverson, PA. Living history site focusing on industrial production. See their web site for details.

Howell Living History Farm, Titusville, NJ. A turn-of-the-20th-century farm. See their web site for details.

Human Rights Documentation Exchange, Austin, TX. See their web site for details.

Idealist.org. Extensive listing of activist jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities all over the U.S. and the world. See their web site for details.

Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University, Washington, DC. Offers paid summer internships in public policy and journalism. See their web site for details.

International internships. Try the comprehensive InternAbroad.com site.

The Jewish Museum, New York, NY. See their web site for details.

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

Land between the Lakes, Golden Pond, KY. Work on an 1850s living history farm. See their web site for more details.

Leadership Institute, Washington, DC. Training ground for young conservative leaders. See their web site for details.

Lesbian Herstory Archives, New York, NY. See their web site for details.

Library of Congress, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

Living History Farms, Urbandale, IA. Work as a historical interpreter on this 19th-century farm in period clothing. See their web site for more details.

Lucasfilm, various locations in CA. Work in the archives or other departments within one of the largest film studios in the U.S. See their web site for more details.

Margaret Sanger Papers Project, New York, NY. Sanger (1879-1966) was the U.S.’s best-known advocate for distributing birth control more widely. See their web site for more details.

Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Quantico, VA (just outside Washington, DC.). See their web site for details.

Martha’s Vineyard Historical Society, Edgartown, MA. See their web site for details.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project, Stanford, CA. See their web site for details.

McWhiney Foundation, Abilene, TX. See their web site for details.

Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY. See their web site for details.

Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, AZ. See their web site for more details.

National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), various locations. See their web site for details. NARAL Pro Choice Texas has its own internship programs.

National Audubon Society, Washington, DC. A non-profit environmental organization. See their web site for details.

National Endowment for Democracy, Washington, DC. Non-profit that supports building democratic governments in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union. See their web site for more details.

National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Washington, DC.; some internships in Cambridge, MA, and New York, NY. See their web site for details.

National Organization for Women, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

National Park Service, various locations and various programs! Perhaps of interest to students interested in history would be their Cultural Resources and Historic Preservation Internship Programs. Still, they have a lot of programs to offer to undergraduate students so do spend some time looking through their web site!

National Public Radio, Washington, DC. NPR says it prefers applicants with liberal arts backgrounds for its All Things Considered internship. See their web site for more details.

NASA History Office, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

Naval Historical Center, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

New York Arts Program, New York, NY. See their web site for details.

Norlands Living History Center, Livermore, ME. A living museum of 18th- and 19th-century rural New England life. See their web site for details.

Northeast Historic Film, Bucksport, ME. Northern New England’s film archive. See their web site for details.

Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth, MA. The famous 17th-century settlement. See their web site for details.

Presidential Libraries, various locations in the U.S. Visit this site to find links to the presidential libraries that have internship programs.

Public Citizen, various locations. Political action group founded by Ralph Nader. See their web site for details.

Regional Archives, various locations in the U.S. Visit this site to find links to regional archives that have internship programs.

Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture, Durham, NC. See their web site for details.

Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Norman, OK. See their web site for details.

Search for Common Ground, Washington, DC. An NGO focused on non-violent resolution of international conflicts. See their web site for details.

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Includes internships at the Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture, Archives of American Art, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (Asian art), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of African Art, National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, National Portrait Gallery, National Postal Museum, National Zoological Park, Office of Equal Employment and Minority Affairs, Office of Government Relations, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, and in Architectural History and Historic Preservation. See their web site for details.

Student Conservation Association, various locations. Work in conservation in national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges across the country. See their web site for details.

Texas Associated Press Managing Editors – Buster Haas Minority Internship Program, various locations in TX. Competitive internship that places minority students at local newspapers around Texas. See their web site for details.

Texas Association of BroadcastersLists internship possibilities at TV stations throughout the state.

Texas Association of Community Development Corporations, various locations in TX. Promotes affordable housing, economic development and neighborhood revitalization around the state. See their web site for more details.

Texas Monthly, Austin, TX. See their web site and their hiring page for details.

Texas Office of the Attorney General, Austin, TX. See their web site for details.

Texas State Senate, Austin, TX. Austin, TX. See their web site for a list of state senators whom you can contact about internship opportunities.

Texas Travel Industry Association, Austin, TX. See their web site for details.

U.S. Capitol Historical Society, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC. See their web site for details.

Washington, DC, Internships. See this web site for a comprehensive list of internships available in the DC area.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC. Assist some of the world’s top public policy scholars with their research. See their web site for more details.

World Wide Web History Project, San Francisco, CA, Boston, MA, and other locations. See their web site for details.

W.W. Norton and Co., New York, NY. A major publisher of college textbooks. See their web site for details.