I must apologise for not making my email clear enough - my intention is not to criticize personally at all, or to criticize specific institutions. Everyone has a strapped budget; everyone strives to be an excellent internship mentor. The model does appear to have flaws that I think we could creatively address. 

As a lecturer at a university where we have "internships for credit," I work for an institution that actively encourages - as everyone else that follows this model - students to pay university tuition fees in order to then work somewhere for credit (ie. for free). This is, to me, and to my city college first-gen-to-college students, very problematic, and thus an opportunity for creative problem solving - usually done best by asking a collective with deep knowledge, like this one. 

I didn't know, for example, about the veterans funding pointed out on the lost serv. A great funding source to know about. 

This conversation could do really positive things. There's such a collective pool of knowledge here - funding that has worked on local and national levels; awareness raised that unpaid internships are a real issue for young people starting out, especially those who come from the working class; a supportive network of museum professionals who can talk about how they have raised this issue within their institutions etc. 

I will heed Dean's correct call and start a new thread. I'm thinking of trying to put together a quick, easy aggregated online source to gather paid internship opps and also funding possibilities, perhaps useful for both cash-strapped institutions who want to support paid internships and students looking for them. Maybe this already exists? 

I find the conversations on this list serv so informative and useful, including this one. 

All best, Michelle 

Sent from my iPhone 
http://www.michellemillarfisher.com

On Dec 17, 2013, at 6:25 PM, Rachel Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

One small way to avoid these critical responses on unpaid internships might be to be more targeted in your advertising. By that I mean contact students and degree programs in DC directly, not the entire Museum listserv.

Rachel Smith

Sent from my iPad

On Dec 17, 2013, at 2:05 PM, Kimberly Bender <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


If you read our internship description, you will note that ALL interns at the Heurich House Museum must be receiving academic credit for his or her internship.  I think this is a very important detail to take into account, as we are, in essence, working with higher learning academic institutions to provide free teaching staff and curriculum in return for student course credit.  Therefore, I am not sure why the Heurich House Museum's internship posting resulted in this critical comment thread.

Of course, as a very small, donation-based, non-profit institution, we cannot operate without unpaid volunteers.  Our volunteers give tours, act as security for the collection during special events, work with the collection, and conduct research.  We have spent a great deal of staff time designing and developing a rewarding educational and social experience for these volunteers (i.e. "investing" in them), consider them part of the museum family, have a very high volunteer retention rate, and actively go to bat for them when they are looking for employment opportunities that we cannot provide.  

Every single employee who currently works at the Heurich House Museum is a former volunteer. Most of our former employees continue to volunteer with us after they leave our employment.


Kimberly Bender
Executive Director
Heurich House Museum
1307 New Hampshire Avenue 
Washington, DC  20036
(202) 429-1894



From: Dean Krimmel <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Internship Postings
Date: December 17, 2013 at 11:30:43 AM EST
Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>

All due respect Heurich House colleagues, but the appearance of yet another unpaid “opportunity” speaks to soooo much that is wrong with our field. Not to single you out, as you’re obviously following museum SOP.
 
Perhaps, it’s time to call out our Museum Leaders who should be doing more on this front. Few of us have the ear of our boards, so it’s up to our directors and other senior folk. Imagine they’ll tell you that they have much larger fish to fry. I’d argue that it’s all part of making a case for your support—something that should begin internally by educating the board and supporters about the true cost of doing business. And about the importance of investing in people. Even in my one-person shop I find ways to pay people for the value they bring to a project. Call me cranky…or chalk it up to having college-age kids who’re caught up in this same unpaid mess.  
 
Dean
 
Dean Krimmel, Creative Museum Services/Qm2
Helping Museums and Cultural Nonprofits
423 Range Road  Baltimore, MD 21204
LinkedIn; www.qm2.org; @deankrimmel
 
...as we discover our past, so we discover ourselves -- and more.
    Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects
 
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Yana Myaskovskaya
Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2013 10:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Internship Postings
 
The Heurich House Museum in Washington, D.C. is pleased to announce two internships for the Spring semester, listed below:
 
CURATORIAL INTERN
 
Overview:
 
Finished by German-American brewer Christian Heurich in 1894, the Heurich House Museum is a Victorian/Edwardian-period mansion located near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C.  The home, locally christened “The Brewmaster’s Castle,” features a comprehensive collection of period furnishings, original interiors, and innovative period technology.
 
Position Summary:
 
The museum seeks a motivated intern to assist the Curator with collections management and exhibition development.  As part of the Curatorial Department, the Curatorial Intern will have the opportunity to work closely with the Curator to establish a cohesive and easily-accessible management system for the museum’s collection of original furnishings, accessories, textiles, and other objects.  Additionally, the intern will assist with the update of a permanent exhibition, Branding Liquid Gold: Marketing at the Christian Heurich Brewing Co. from 1873-1956.  They will also assist in the development of historically-accurate educational programming for 2014.  As a result of the internship, the intern will have gained skills focused on collections management for the non-profit realm, and will have greatly contributed to the development of a collections management program at the museum.
 
Essential Functions:
 
  • Develop a comprehensive collections management system with a knowledge of archival materials and techniques.
  • Perform research on existing collections, as well as potential acquisitions and exhibition-based materials.</

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