I post collections of internship opportunities:
(http://www.efn.org/~acd/resources.html)

 and I must say that it seems to be not at all unusual for entities to
"require" extensive experience from intern applicants and I have been
surprised to read few if any descriptions of training to be given. At
least half of the positions (as a guess) are unpaid, often with little
more than a vague promise of help in receiving college unit credit.
Payment, when offered, is almost always less than enough for routine
living expenses.
 I continually debate with myself the usefulness and even honesty of
posting opportunities really meant only for the wealthy and/or those so
desperate for experience that they will undertake such jobs.

 Adrienne DeAngelis, editor
 (http://www.efn.org/~acd/resources.html)
 [log in to unmask]


On Thu, August 5, 2010 12:08 pm, Yearous, Jenny Dee wrote:
> Your question makes me wonder something, do you have someone on staff who
> is a collections person? If so talk to them, if not, it is not right to
> hire an intern to be your collections person.  An intern is not just
> cheep student labor, if you hire an intern it is YOUR responsibility that
> they have the opportunity to learning something, have a meaningful
> experience  and learn from  someone who does the job. That person should
> direct their activity, correct mistakes, encourage creative thinking in
> short be a mentor to that student.   Don't assume classes at a university
> have prepared them for the real museum world.... They haven't.
>
> With that said, I have collections interns every year.  Specifically each
> internship is different but in generalities:
>
> 1)      Interns take a collections from a potential acquisition stage
> though our collections committee and then accessions it.
>
> 2)      They catalog something whether it is that collection or another
> one
>
> 3)      Learn how to use our data base and enter information in it.
>
>
> 4)      Deal with an old loan (some from the 1920s this year)
>
>
> 5)      learn how to photograph things for the records.
>
>
> 6)      do condition reports (Usually there is an exhibit coming up and
> they will prepare all the condition reports for that exhibit)
>
> 7)      prepare an exhibit for our "recent acquisitions" case. I like to
> rotate it yearly so if they are here at the right time they will do that
> including writing exhibit text and making mounts.  ( I make sure they
> sew something, just an evil quirk of mine)
>
> 8)      I have them do some inventory which includes updating cataloging,
> photos and making storage mounts.
>
> 9)      They also help with the pest monitoring, environmental
> monitoring,
>
> 10)   attend all staff, collections and curatorial meetings.
>
>
> 11)   I also make sure they get to see other museums in my area.
>
>
> 12)   Some have written and presented workshops at conferences
>
>
> 13)   Have a little fun (like hunt mastodon on the museum grounds)
> In a nut shell, learn how we do things and do what I do specifically.
>
>
> If you have any questions please feel free to contact me off list
>
>
> Jenny Yearous
> Curator of Collections Management
> State Historical Society of North Dakota
>
>
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Sarah Coles
> Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 1:05 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Collections Internships?
>
>
> Hello
> I am the education coordinator at my museum and we are creating an
> intership in collections for this fall.  I was wondering if any of you
> have collections interships at your museums, and if so what do your
> interns do? Thank you
> Sarah Coles
> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
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