Dear All, This is an interesting topic. I write from the perspective of an independent curator who has worked with interns at a variety of different museums and had independent interns as research assistants on various projects. Is love of history enough for interns? Perhaps it is enough to get them in the door to offer their time. The value of internship is that it affords the youths an opportunity to see the huge amount of unglamorous work necessary to plan a show or event or even to just keep the doors open and the lights on. Maybe it would be best for the students to have internships their first year of college so they would see the real day-to-day life they'd be leading as//a museum professional/before/ they become entranced in the the ever-fascinating study and research of a discipline and spend tens of thousands of dollars on tuition. I have seen many cases where /excellent/ /students/ become repulsed and depressed when confronted with the reality that every workday will not be spent authoring a major text or researching wonderful objects. They tend to change their majors.... A delicate, but essential first step in an internship is making it clear that they will be learning, but, /work is not the same as school./ Academic situations these days sometimes seem pressured into assuming a certain element of "infotainment" - wherein information is being conveyed, but it must be in an interesting manner that the students find entertaining and enjoyable. If they don't think they'd like something, they don't have to try doing it...... Work, is mission-driven. One does whatever needs done to help reach the goal. One learns by doing and learns by observing others' behavior. An internship is not 15 weeks of paid day-care in a cultural milieu. The students with whom I have worked have always been well versed in history, research, and academic writing/already/, so I have tried to offer them work to do that would give them the unglamorous, but totally necessary skills that will set them apart from their other bright, well-studied peers when applying for entry-level jobs: writing jargon-free one page press releases for the general public; writing succinct jargon-free cover or inquiry letters; compiling bibliographies in perfect CMS style; researching and obtaining reproduction rights; accurately compiling photo credits, acknowledgements and drafting thank you notes; re-formatting material from a variety of sources - texts, photos, etc. into useful reference material; reading, editing and fact-checking anything written in the office; rescaling and formatting photo images; filing and organizing material; and especially, checking and re-checking the correct spelling of peoples' names, foundations names, donor names - everything regarding getting the boring basic (but essential) details accurate, etc. Also, the basics of always being prompt, meeting deadlines /no matter what/, and realizing that one must patiently re-do and re-work projects over and over and over again. If they aren't more adept at computer programs than I am, - the basics- Word, Exel, Photoshop - I insist that they get up to speed, or indicate that they will perish out in the "real world." They are not usually excited at first, but most of them (who proved to be serious and who /did love history enough/) were quick to see that they were gaining the power of organizing a book from end to end, or being able to gracefully approach a lender, or learning all the other things that will make them indispensable. And they have had a very good track record of getting their first jobs. In return for the interns' efforts, I feel responsible to be forever after "on call" to listen, encourage, advise, and write endless numbers of reference letters. It is a pleasure to see them flourish. Good luck to you, Christa, and all your young charges. Larry List 303 Park Avenue South New York, New York #315 10010 646-761-7489 On 4/17/2012 12:09 PM, Christa McCay wrote: > Hello All, > > My question is about interns. After having recently interviewing over > 20 interns for the summer semester (fyi, we are a staff of 4 and will > have more interns then staff at the Museum this summer), I have begun > to feel that potential interns think that a love of history is enough > to get them a position. Is it really enough? > I have begun to feel that no it?s not. Often times they don?t have > the experience with basic computer programs or with graphic design > programs (mainly exhibits and marketing interns). I understand with > this economy getting an internship and experience is the best for > their resume and for getting a job after college. Also I understand > that people need to start their experience somewhere,but most of these > students don?t want to be in the Museum world when they graduate and > often times assume that they will get to ?play? with cool artifacts > all day. We all know that the truth is, there is a lot of paperwork > involved with maintaining a collection along with data entry, both of > which are not glamorous or very exciting. > I know that our job is to teach interns but like many of us, we are > juggling multiple tasks to make up for the positions that are > currently empty and can?t be filled due to budget. Our teaching and > training time is limited. I do want to have interns with a passion > for history but also a passion to work in Museums. I sometimes feel > like my time was wasted trying to teach and train someone who just > wanted to do this for fun. > > I am sorry if this sounds like whining or sour grapes but I would like > to know from others if a love of history is enough? > > Sincerely, > > > Christa McCay, M.H.P. > Registrar > Marietta Museum of History > 1 Depot Street, Ste. 200 > Marietta, GA 30060 > 770-794-5726 > > ========================================================= > Important Subscriber Information: > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed > information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail > message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message > should read "help" (without the quotes). > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message > to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read > "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). > ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).