More Spring 2013 Opportunities

Read on for more information after the jump about exciting internship opportunities at the Chicago Metro History Education Center, the Chicago Public Library, and the Student Empowerment Training Project.

Internship at the Button Museum

Chris Klein at the Button Museum is looking for an intern to help with digitizing, cataloging and contextualizing the museum's growing collection of over 6,000 historic buttons. Siblings Joel and Christen Carter, owners of the successful Busy Beaver Button Company and avid collectors of historically significant buttons, founded the museum in 2011. Since then the Button Museum has become an institutional member of both the American Alliance of Museums and Illinois Association of Museums. The museum is located at 3279 W. Armitage Avenue in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood.

It is a very exciting project and we are looking to recruit students to work with us. Students would gain valuable, unique and specialized experience researching, describing, digitizing and cataloging these important historical artifacts. Students would be developing our Digital Archive using Photoshop to capture and edit images and Drupal as our Content Management System. Students would also be asked to carry out research to provide historical context for the buttons. Students will be adding this content to the website and will be able to demonstrate their proficiencies to potential employers. It is a very unique opportunity for the right student.

Interested students should contact Chris Klein (craigdklein@gmail.com).

Deadline for Spring 2013 Internships

The deadline for registering for HIST 398 for the Spring 2013 semester is Thursday, January 17th.  To register for HIST 398 students must submit a signed contract for their internship to Patricia Clemente in the History Department Office no later than 4 pm on the 17th.  She will register students directly into HIST 398.

Another Spring Opportunity - in Rogers Park

The Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society is seeking an intern to assist in compiling information in support of the Satellite Exhibits project. This program identifies vacant or available storefronts within the two neighborhoods for site-specific installations highlighting the history of the building and showcasing the resources of the society.

Spring 2013 Internship Opportunity

The Devon Ave(nue) Digital History Archive (DADHA) is looking for interns to assist in all aspects of the archive project.

The DADHA Project is a digital historical (and contemporary) archive of the stretch of W. Devon east-west from N. Broadway to Kedzie Ave. It is an approximately three-mile stretch of primarily businesses. Devon Ave. has, like many parts of Chicago, experienced significant changes in the past thirty years. However, Devon Ave.’s history traces back to at least the 1930s (even further, but we begin here with arrival of businesses). From an initial presence of Eastern European immigrants and Orthodox Jewish communities, there has been a dramatic shift in the composition of the Devon Ave. neighborhoods and businesses since the 1980s. The arrival of South Asians (from India and Pakistan) and Assyrians has added a new ethno-cultural and historical dimension to Devon Ave. Changes in US immigration policies and in recent years, and more recently the impact of Iraq War II (2003-2011), has seen a change in the composition of many Devon Avenue businesses. Moreover, although businesses may be owned or managed by individual of the area’s diverse ethno-cultural communities, much of the labor is done by immigrants from Latin America. DADHA traces the histories of the experiences, past and present, of the individuals, families, and communities of Devon Avenue.

Qualities seeking: independent and self-motivated individuals; mutli- or inter-disciplinary interest in history, sociology, urban studies, American and ethnic studies , and economics.

Not required, but useful: fluent in languages other than English: Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, and Iraqi Arabic.

Duties, depending on talents and experience, may include:

• Web design: (See: www.dadha.org)
• Archival research: especially at the Chicago History Museum and the Rogers Park Historical Society.
• Interviews: interview Devon Ave. merchants, employees, building owners, and community organization members. Note: this is a restricted field of work. Interns must pass the Institutional Review Board (IRB) course or the CITI on-line test.
• Photography and video work: photograph storefronts and other buildings along Devon Ave. Much of the initial photographic work has been completed, but it is also an on-going project: businesses and community organizations come and go. Need to keep updated photographs. The video project includes putting together a short film of Devon Ave. and any video work related to the project (e.g. interviews).
• Historical research: this may include archival work, but the emphasis here is to examine secondary literature related to urban history, Chicago history, related projects in other cities (see: http://invinciblecities.camden.rutgers.edu/intro.html).
• Demographic research: government archives and documents to trace past and present of Devon Ave. and Rogers Park and West Ridge Districts.

Those interested in the internship should contact Professor John Pincince (jpincince@luc.edu).

Spring 2013 Internship Opportunities

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs offers undergraduate juniors and seniors as well as graduate students the chance to learn about our organization and participate in a variety of duties associated with ongoing projects through internships. While intern responsibilities vary by department, tasks may include researching prospective speakers, donors, studies, and corporate members, writing communications, assisting in the development of marketing/program materials, audience and outreach development, administrative duties (filing, faxing, data entry, preparing mailings, assembling program/

meeting materials), assisting at Council events, and other projects as assigned.

To qualify, students must have an academic major or personal interest in international affairs, possess excellent research, writing, and verbal communications skills, be detail-oriented with strong organizational abilities, and possess working knowledge of Microsoft Office. Interns are asked to commit to a minimum of 15 hours per week. While internships are unpaid, the Council does offer limited local travel reimbursement to and from the office. Interns also receive a complimentary, one-year membership with The Chicago Council.

To apply, please e-mail a cover letter (specifying dates and hours of availability), résumé, and a two-page writing sample (e.g. paper and/or excerpt from school, relevant to Council) as Word documents to hr@thechicagocouncil.org. Applications for 2013 Winter/Spring Internships are being accepted through November 15^th.   For more information, click here to download a flyer about the internship.

The Pritzker Military Library is now taking applications for student interns. These internships are ideal for History and English majors as well as GLIS students. Interns will create bibliographies and pathfinders as well as learn how to conduct reference interviews, work in our catalogue, and maintain the circulation desk. Student internships require 6 hours each week to be completed on 1 pre-scheduled day for a minimum of eight weeks. For more information on internships, click here for a flyer. Please send resumes and cover letters to Christy Stanford at cstanford@pritzkermilitarylibrary.org.

The DANK Haus German American Cultural Center is looking for a motivated student interested in contributing to and becoming an integral part of the DANK Museum including the Willy Scharpenberg Gallery featuring multi-media art exhibits.

The duties of the intern will include, but are not limited to:

• Research German and German American history regarding our permanent collection and incoming acquisitions

• Keep up to date with current German cultural trends as well as local German American artists with the intent of scheduling exhibits

• Coordinate with visiting curators and artists regarding set up and tear down of exhibits, opening and closing receptions and general hospitality

• Conduct tours of the exhibits for group and individual tours

• Oversee the DANK Museum’s Saturday operating hours

• Work closely with the Marketing Team to expand press contacts to include the local museum and art community

• Communicate with other organizations featuring culturally-focused museums and galleries

• Contribute to print material design, production and distribution

Deadline for Spring 2013 application: December 15^th.  Please contact Keith Vogel (development@dankhaus.com) for more information and to submit CV and cover letter.  For a flyer with more information, click here.

The Swedish American Museum is looking for interns to work on an ongoing Oral History project. Interns would have the opportunity to help design interview questions, conduct interviews with individuals and help process the interviews for research and retrieval. Interns working on this project may also be asked to help with other special projects as needed.  Interested students should email Karin Abercombie (kabercrombie@samac.org) at the Museum.

Introducing the Fall 2012 Undergraduate Interns

This semester eight Loyola undergraduates are interning for course credit as part of HIST 398, the History Undergraduate Internship.  Working directly with history-trained professionals in a broad range of institutions across Chicago, interns are spending a minimum of five hours a week putting the critical thinking, writing and speaking skills that they have learned in the Loyola classroom to work in the real world.  Not only does HIST 398 allow students to earn three course credit hours, but it also satisfies the college’s Engaged Learning Requirement.  Interns are blogging weekly posts about their experiences.  I encourage you to check out their blogs.  Comment on their posts. Ask them questions.  Encourage them. And most of all: think about the internship that you want to do in the spring semester for HIST 398 credit!

Alexandra Vasilou and Jake Vasilakes are digging into the archives at the Chicago Japanese American History Society.  Their blogs give a wonderful sense of the experience of working with a small institution with limited resources, the amazing discoveries that can be made, and some eloquent ruminations on what it means to do history.  Jake’s blog has some beautiful photographs of WWII internment camps from the CJAHS collection that are worth checking out.  

Area museums and libraries are benefiting from the labors of Loyola undergraduates.  At the Swedish American Museum, Winfred Lawrence is spearheading an oral history project capturing the memories and experiences of members of the museum, many of whom are first or second generation Americans. Besides gathering stories for the museum to use in its exhibitions and programs, Winfred’s project is documenting the history of the Andersonville neighborhood where the museum is located.  Over at the Newberry Library, Dylan LeBlanc is helping catalogue a collection of railroad material for the library’s “Mapping Movement in American Culture” project and is hoping to work with the maps of the Colonial Atlantic World that he studies.

Curious about Taoism?  Qihan Zhao’s blog is both a fascinating introduction to Chinese philosophy and a view into the work that he is doing with Professor Elena Valussi.  Each week’s post provides interesting information about Taoist scholarship.

Anne Burkhardt and Sebastian Villa are digging into the archives of important women activists this semester.  Anne is working in the Archives at DePaul with the papers of the Congregation of Saint Joseph.  Sister Helen Prejean, whose experience as an anti-death penalty activist was portrayed in the movie Dead Man Walking, is a prominent member of the Congregation.  Sebastian has been working with the papers of Helen Sauer Brown, Mary Agnes Curran, and other activists in Loyola’s own Women and Leadership Archives.  Sebastian is also helping coordinate the WLA’s social media.  His handiwork can be seen on the WLA Facebook page.

Fall might be in the air, but it hasn’t kept CharlesHeinrich from digging (literally!) into Loyola’s Medieval Garden.  Follow Charlie’s humorous posts to learn how he battles back rogue fennel to reclaim the garden and digs into (five hundred years) old school urban environmental sustainability!

Intrigued? Want to undertake your own internship?  Now is the perfect time to start thinking about an internship for the spring semester.  Visit the undergraduate internship pages or email me (kroberts2@luc.edu) for more information.