Loyola University Chicago

• Internship Contract

• History Intern Application

• History Intern Evaluation

Chicago Public Schools

Interns work at local elementary or high schools (for example, Swift Elementary or Sullivan High School) and engage in such tasks as tutoring students in history or helping with their history fairs. Loyola's School of Education helps set up these internships.

The Field Museum

The Field Museum is one of the most important museums in the Chicago area. It was founded to house the biological and anthropological collections assembled for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. These objects form the core of the Museum's collections which have grown through world-wide expeditions, exchange, purchase, and gifts to more than twenty million specimens. The Museum's curatorial and scientific staff in the departments of Anthropology, Biology, Geology, and Zoology conducts basic research in the fields of systematic biology and anthropology, and also has responsibility for collections management, and collaboration in public programs with the Departments of Education and Exhibits. Since its founding the Field Museum has been an international leader in evolutionary biology and paleontology, and archaeology. It has internships primarily in the Anthropology Department. Loyola students in the past have helped catalog and research the classical archeology and Mesopotamian collections. They are very interested in having more Loyola interns.

The First Division Museum at Cantigny

The First Division Museum at Cantigny is dedicated to American military history, specifically the history of the Big Red One, which is the famed 1st Infantry Division of the United States Army. The museum is located on the Wheaton, Illinois estate of the late Colonel Robert R. McCormick. Its 38,000 square foot facility includes 10,000 square feet of state of the art interactive and experiential exhibits. The museum has a wide variety of exhibits ranging from life-size dioramas to tanks and artillery pieces found in the military park. It has numerous internship possibilities, which include:

Collections Department

- Collection care and management (includes registrar duties, conservation, research, working with collections database software)

Archives:

(The archive is divided into two parts: 20th century American military documents and documents relating to the Chicago Tribune Co. and McCormick family from 1910 -1950)

- Cataloging, conservation, and indexing of the document and manuscript collection

- Assist with patrons' research

Library Assistant

- Help with wall to wall inventory of library's collections

Public Programs:

- Help design, create, and install exhibits

- Educational outreach

- School tours

- Help organize/execute special events at the museum

Shedd Aquarium

Opened to the public in 1930 on Chicago's Museum campus, the Shedd Aquarium features permanent exhibits on Waters of the World (seahorses and river otters), Caribbean Reef (sea turtles, rays and colorful varieties of fish), Amazon Rising (anacondas and piranhas), Wild Reef (sharks), and a huge Oceanarium (dolphins and beluga whales). At Shedd, animals connect you to the real world, inspiring you to make a difference. Recently, Shedd has joined other institutions in a campaign to protect the resources that the Great Lakes represent. Interns may volunteer for Floor Programs, Education, Marine Mammal Husbandry, the Oceanarium, Aquarium Collections Husbandry, and Special Events.

Mitchell Museum of the American Indian

Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Kendall College, the only museum in the Chicago-area that focuses exclusively on the history, culture and arts of North American native peoples. The Museum's collections range from the Paleo-Indian period through the present day. Permanent exhibitions depict the Native American cultures of the Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Northwest Coast and Arctic. Two temporary exhibit galleries have special thematic shows that change two times a year. Interns would develop a project that would fit with the museum's needs and their own interests.

Edgewater Historical Society

The Edgewater Historical Society was founded in January of 1988 to involve the Edgewater community in the preservation of its history. The impetus to form the Society was the 1986 celebration of the Edgewater Centennial, during which the Edgewater Community Council conducted an oral history project. From that project grew a great interest in researching and documenting neighborhood streets and structures. The Edgewater Historical Society operates the Museum located in the converted firehouse at 5358 N. Ashland Ave. and conducts Home Tours and Walking Tours throughout the year.

Internships might involve researching and putting up of exhibits and displays; helping with oral history to get the recording of information for our files; projects; and storing collections information. Skills required could range from history, art, computer skills, office management, research, photographer, etc.

The Swedish-American Museum

The Museum Center is located at 5211 North Clark in Andersonville, a traditionally Swedish area of Chicago's north side. The mission of the Museum is to preserve and present the Swedish American heritage in the United States for the education and enjoyment of all ages and ethnic background. Each year more than 40,000 visitors enjoy the many programs that include special exhibits, Swedish language classes, crafts, genealogy classes, folk dancing, concerts, lectures, films, and the interactive Children's Museum of Immigration. The Children's Museum is looking for education docents to staff the museum, lead tours, and learn to role play. Interns can also be given a special project to focus on (for instance, writing descriptions of artifacts). Applicants should submit a resume and a short paragraph on why they are interested in an internship.

Glessner House (near Downtown Chicago)

Built in1885, the Glessner house was a radical departure from traditional residential design. Nestled inside the fortress-like, rusticated granite exterior is an oak-paneled English Arts and Crafts interior and a charming central courtyard. The stories that live within the walls of Glessner House tell the tale of Chicago in an era that, more than any other, shaped urban America -- the family life and fashion trends, masters and servants, high culture and crass consumerism, intellectual achievements and industrial brawn. The spirit of the Gilded Age lives in Glessner House and visitors not only learn its cultural history, they experience the ambiance of this bygone world. Glessner House Museum has over 6,000 artifacts, most of which are original to the Glessner family. In addition to Aesthetic Movement and English Arts and Crafts Movement furniture, the collection includes a large number of ceramic vases and tiles, Art Nouveau glass, silver and other decorative objects.

Staff works closely with the students to determine internship objectives and to set project priorities. They provide interns with knowledge and training they can take with them into their careers, placing each student into a working environment where each becomes part of the GHM team.

Newberry Library

The Newberry Library is an independent research library concentrating in the humanities with an active educational and cultural presence in Chicago. Free and open to the public, it houses an extensive non-circulating collection of rare books, maps, and manuscripts. It has various internship opportunities, including

Local and family history: Working with the Curator of Local and Family History, interns will gain experience in collection development, reference, and outreach by checking Newberry holdings against dealer/publisher catalogs and published bibliographies, answering reference correspondence, and creating pathfinders.

Maps: Interns will work with the Library's collection of antiquarian maps to convert card catalog records into electronic format, variously involving classification, preliminary cataloging, and brieflisting under the supervision of the Curator of Maps and Map Cataloger. Interest in history, geography and maps, and familiarity with spreadsheet or bibliographic programs desirable but not neccessary.

Photoduplication: Interns, supervised by the Photoduplication Manager, will work closely with the library's photographer to produce and catalog copy-stand photography of images in the Newberry's collections. Some knowledge of photographic and darkroom techniques desirable but not required.

QUALIFICATIONS: Two years of college with strong interest in the humanities preferred. Library work experience desirable. Ability to maintain close attention to detail.