Unique Opportunities

The Center for Public History is an interdisciplinary program that provides students with the opportunity to engage in the work of interpreting history for a public audience. It offers courses, programs, extracurricular events, and internship opportunities focusing on five broad areas of public history work: archeology, archives, historic preservation, museum studies, and oral history.

Start by reviewing the Career Center's Guide to Internships regarding the value of internships and Hampden-Sydney College's policies regarding internships, as well as advice on how to apply and prepare for an internship.

History News Network (on-campus)
Unpaid internships are available year-round, performing web-research and communicating with authors. Interns can work on-campus. 

Library of Congress, Junior Fellows Program (Washington DC)
Internships (with a stipend of roughly $300 a week) are available in the summer, focusing on making the Library of Congress' collections better known and more accessible to scholars and the general public

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington DC)
The Museum has unpaid internships year-round as docents, with additional summer opportunities in the archives, library, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, museum presentation, item preservation, and public relations.

Smithsonian Institution (Washington DC)
Paid and unpaid internships are available working with branches of the Smithsonian. This includes summer internships at the Air and Space Museum, year-round internships at the National Museum of American History and year-round internships at the National Museum of the American Indian, among others. 

National Park Service (Various locations, summer and seasonal)
Seasonal and summer positions, including paid seasonal work, are available at national parks and sites throughout the country. 

US Capitol Hill Historical Society (Washington DC)
The Society educates the public on the Capitol Building and Congress; unpaid internships are available in fall and spring to conduct historical research in Washington D.C.

US National Archives (Washington DC)
The National Archives and Record Administration offers unpaid internships year-round focusing on archival preservation, organization and historical research. Most internships are in NARA's Washington DC facilities, although some are available at presidential libraries and other sites throughout the country. 

Colonial Williamsburg (Williamsburg, VA)
Paid and unpaid internships are available at various times of the year, plus paid seasonal work in the summers. Opportunities include administration, historical trades, hospitality and as guides. 

Library of Virginia (Richmond, VA)
Unpaid docents are welcomed year-round; internships are available in support areas such as data entry and computer use. 

Virginia Holocaust Museum (Richmond, VA)
Internships in research, archives, the library and exhibitions are periodically available.    

Field Museum (Chicago, IL)
Ten-week summer internships focusing on work with the collections and research staff. Advance communication with curator(s) is required.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, VA)
Internships are available year-round in the art reference library, development office, gallery, marketing, visitor services and various support areas. 

Museum of the Confederacy (Richmond, VA)
Internships are available in the collections, library, and exhibition areas. Interns may do research for exhibitions, collections and educational programs.

Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation (Jamestown & Yorktown, VA) 
Internships are available year-round in curation, development, marketing, education, human resources and information technology,as well as other support areas.  

Virginia Aviation Museum (Richmond, VA)
Volunteer opportunities are available to greet guests, guide tours and work in the museums ticketing and gift shop. Internships may be available, when listed. 

Science Museum of Virginia (Richmond, VA and Dnaville VA)
Internships in gallery education, marketing, and education are available. 

Virginia Historical Society (Richmond, VA) 
Volunteer positions are available as tour guides for the Society, plus renovations (including renovations to the grounds) of Virginia House.

State Department (Washington, DC or overseas) 
Paid and unpaid internships are available year-round. Current areas where applications are encouraged to apply include the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs; the Economic, Energy and Business Affairs Bureau; the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; the Bureau of Intelligence and Research; and the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. 

Mount Vernon (Alexandria, Virginia)
Mount Vernon offers a series of internships involving archeological digs at the site. Positions are available year-round, varying depending on the season.

Folger Shakespeare Library
Paid and unpaid internships are available in museum education, visitor services, and Shakespeare. 

Other

The Mariners' Museum (Newport News)
Housewright Museum (Buckingham, VA)
Avoca Museum (Altavista, VA)
Reedville Fisherman's Museum
Moton Museum (Farmville, VA)
Edgar Allen Poe Museum (Richmond, VA)
History Museum and Historical Society of Western Virginia (Roanoke, VA)

The Columbia Undergraduate Journal of History
The CUJH publishes papers by undergraduates majoring in history from departments across the United States, but papers should be nominated by a professor in a history department. All citation should be in Chicago or Turabian style.

History Matters: An Undergraduate Journal of Historical Research
History Matters invites papers by undergraduates majoring in history from departments across the United States. Papers should be based on primary documents, be from 10 to 20 pages in length, and use Chicago style citation.  

The Monitor: Journal of International Studies
The Monitor invites undergraduates in all disciplines to submit papers of between 2500 and 600 words, but all papers must be on international themes. Papers that focus on the United States are not published. 

Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review
The PUR invites undergraduates in all disciplines within the United States to submit their papers for publication.

Boren Fellowships
Boren Awards provide funding for undergraduate study abroad and language training in countries outside of Western Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The maximum scholarship is $8,000 for a study program, $10,000 for a semester program, and $20,000 for a full academic year. Preference is given to "security critical" languages in Africa and Asia. Boren Awardees are required to perform US government service in the intelligence or diplomatic communities. 

The Critical Language Scholarship Program
A Department of State program, the CLS offers intensive summer language courses overseas in "critically needed" foreign languages. The scholarship covers all program costs, including travel, tuition costs, books, housing and visa costs (recipients must pay for their own passport). Programs are available in multiple languages (in 2011, languages included Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish and Urdu.) Applicants must have sophomore standing and be a current student when applying. 

Council of American Ambassadors Fellowship 
$6,000 award, 6 credits and summer housing for students in the summer after their junior year. Applicants should "possess a strong interest in pursuing a career in diplomacy or international affairs." Must display merit and leadership. 

Fulbright Scholarships 
Graduating seniors are eligible for the English Teaching Assistantship program through the Fulbright Program; exceptionally strong seniors may seek to apply to the Fulbright Student Grant program. 

Indiana University Summer Workshop 
Focuses on Slavic, East European and Central Asian Languages. Foreign Language and Area Studies scholarships are available for undergraduate students. Special funding is available to ROTC cadets. Languages taught in 2010 included 6-credit courses in Azeri, Czech, Dari, Gerogian, Hungarian, Kazakh, Macedonian, Pashto, Polish, Romanian, Tajik, Turkmen, Uiger Ukrainian and Uzbek.  

Melikian Center Critical Languages Institute Tuition Scholarship
Undergraduate students attending the CLI in the summer may receive a waiver of all tuition costs for attending the 8-credit courses in the security-critical languages offered in Tempe, Arizona in June and July of each year. Typical languages include Albanian, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Tatar and Uzbek. Students are still responsible for the application fee ($50), program fees ($675), books and any housing and travel costs.

Phi Alpha Theta Undergraduate Student Scholarship
$1,000 scholarship for rising seniors who are focusing on Modern European History and who display both merit and financial need.

Pickering Fellowship
Department of State fellowships for either juniors or for seniors seeking admission to a two-year master's degree program "relevant to international affairs." Includes financial support and two summer internships, one domestic and one overseas.

University of Pittsburgh Summer Language Institute
Undergraduate student attending the SLI are eligible for tuition remission or for Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowships. Languages offered in 2010 included 6-credit courses in Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Ukrainian.