I think we can all agree that a love for a particular field whether it be History, Anthropology, Art History or Education is not “enough” and that other transferable skills are highly desired. As someone who has personally supervised over 300 high school, undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate interns, I agree with most of what has already been expressed. HOWEVER, in response to Adam most museums are not staffed with folks who have the leisure time to invest in someone who is not sure about their possible direction. The best internships are achieved when expectations are clearly articulated on both sides. Even though the student may not be sure about their career trajectory a bit of research, an informational interview of someone in the field, a shadowing experience can help them articulate what they want to learn and a direction they might want to pursue. In museums we want more than someone who can just “do the job well” then leave. Maybe it’s just me, but I want to chose someone who may be considering museums as a career and therefore shows interest and curiosity in their surroundings and what we have to offer . We are not asking for life-time commitments.
I just interviewed five graduating high school students for a paid summer internship. They were all bright, enthusiastic, had great recommendations and were amazing achievers in and outside of school. I eliminated two because even though they were enthusiastic about the field they showed no interest in the subject area we covered, were not sure what they wanted to pursue in college (three or four possibilities were mentioned) and I truly believe they just wanted it so it would look good on their resume.
It was a difficult decision for the last three but I chose a candidate whose interests corresponded to the projects and tasks that I had lined up for this summer. I realize that being in a larger museum in an urban area, I can sometimes be more selective but I feel if I invest 50 percent of effort into someone I want to get 100 percent back.
Dawn Scher Thomae
Milwaukee Public Museum
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Adam MacPharlain
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 12:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Is a love of history enough for interns?
Good morning Christa and all,
While I am not in a position to hire or supervise interns, I am an emerging museum professional with my internships in the not-so-distant past. My undergraduate degree is in Apparel Design, and during my time at university I completed two internships: one in the fashion industry of NYC and the other at a state historical society working primarily with historical costume. I bring this up because, at that time, I was a student who "loved history" but had no idea that I would end up in the heritage sector.
Some of these interns you are working with may well start off unsure of what path they want to take, and yes, some may be there for perceived fun. An internship is (or should be) an opportunity to discover and hone our passions. If an intern decides that museum work is not for them, so be it. My opinion is, if they do the job well during their internship, that's all you can ask for.
Hope this is an encouragement to all of you out their supervising interns!
Best,
Adam MacPharlain
859.200.2320