Internship Program

Cataloging Intern

Department: Gilder Lehrman Collection
Internship Term: June 9–August 29, 2025
Hours per Week: 25-29
Student Type: Undergraduate or Graduate Student
Work Location: Hybrid (in-person and remote)

Internship Description

The Gilder Lehrman Collection is an archive of more than 87,000 items that cover 500 years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World to the modern era.

In support of the Gilder Lehrman Collection, the Cataloging Intern will perform the following:

• Review images of archival materials
• Create records in GLI’s Argus collection management system
• Assist with tracking, reviewing, and updating metadata 

Desired Skills

• Required: In-person work at the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s NYC midtown office on Wednesdays
• Strong attention to detail and organizational skills
• Ability to work on multiple projects 

Skills to Be Developed

• Basic cataloging of archival materials, archival database record management, and item-location tracking
• Use of the Argus collection management system

Apply

Curatorial Outreach Intern

Department: Gilder Lehrman Collection
Internship Term: June 9–August 29, 2025 
Hours per Week: 30
Student Type: Undergraduate or Graduate Student
Work Location: Hybrid (in-person and remote)

Internship Description

The Gilder Lehrman Collection is an archive of more than 87,000 items that cover 500 years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World to the modern era. Students, teachers, and other members of the public can license the use of images of items in the Collection. 

In support of the Gilder Lehrman Collection, the Curatorial Outreach Intern will perform the following:

• Assist researchers who want copies of Collection items
• Use Argus collection management software to review the availability of images for patrons
• Investigate and report on rights and reproduction processes used by other museums, libraries, and archives to help streamline and update GLI’s procedures

GLI has created a wide variety of physical traveling exhibitions rented or purchased by schools and libraries across the United States. These informative, colorful exhibitions cover major topics in American history, from leading figures like Alexander Hamilton to important moments like World War I. All the exhibitions feature primary source documents, many from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, that reveal the public and private words of people living at the time. 

In support of the Collection’s traveling exhibitions program, the Curatorial Outreach Intern will perform the following:

• Review and process requests for traveling exhibitions
• Coordinate with exhibition recipients regarding supplemental materials, condition reports, and post-exhibition surveys
• Assist with the shipment of the exhibitions
• Work with the IT team to create exhibition pages that include GLI resources aligning with each exhibition
• Inspect exhibitions and create condition reports in GLI’s Argus collection management software
• Organize the exhibition archive, including creating reports and organizing all associated materials (images, copyright permissions, labels, checklists, and funding information)
• Use ArcGIS, an online mapping program, to update exhibition rental and sales map
• Review and report on exhibition rental surveys

Desired Skills

• Required: In-person work (6–8 hours) at the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s NYC midtown office on Wednesdays
• Strong written and verbal communication
• Attention to detail
• Strong time management

Skills to Be Developed

• Rights management, traveling exhibition management
• Customer service skills
• Drupal, Salesforce, and Argus

Apply

David McCullough Essay Prizes Intern

Department: Educational Programs
Internship Term: July 8–September 13, 2025
Hours per Week: 10
Student Type: Undergraduate or Graduate Student
Work Location: Remote

Internship Description:

This Gilder Lehrman Institute international writing contest honors students presenting their knowledge on different historical topics.

In support of this program, the David McCullough Essay Prizes Intern will perform the following:

• Write first drafts of press releases and social media posts
• Track essay entries
• Help assess essays for academic integrity and plagiarism
• Take minutes during Master Teacher and Scholar review sessions
• Create participation certificates and send to applicants

Desired Skills

• Attention to detail
• Comfort engaging with secondary social studies teachers and historians over Zoom
• Basic knowledge of Chicago Manual of Style, APA style, and MLA format
• Microsoft Excel, Google Suite

Skills to Be Developed

• How to assess academic writing and media submissions
• Project management skills

Apply

Digital Imaging Intern

Department: Gilder Lehrman Collection
Internship Term: June 9–August 29, 2025
Hours per Week: 25–29
Student Type: Undergraduate or Graduate Student
Work Location: Hybrid (in person and remote)

Internship Description

The Gilder Lehrman Collection is an archive of more than 87,000 items that cover 500 years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World to the modern era.

In support of the Gilder Lehrman Collection, the Digital Imaging Intern will perform the following:

• Scan archival materials on site in Manhattan and Brooklyn
• Review and process images of archival materials using Adobe Photoshop
• Create and review catalog records in GLI’s Argus collection management system
• Assist with tracking, reviewing, and updating metadata
• Attach images to catalog records in collection management software, and save high-resolution copies of the scanned images on the shared computer server

Desired Skills

• Required: In-person work (6–8 hours) at the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s NYC midtown office on Wednesdays
• Strong attention to detail and organizational skills
• Ability to work on multiple projects

Skills to Be Developed

• Digitization of archival materials, archival database record management, basic cataloging, and item-location tracking
• Argus, Adobe Photoshop

Apply

Graphic Design Intern

Department: Marketing
Internship Term: June 9–August 15, 2025
Hours per Week: 10
Student Type: Undergraduate or Graduate Student
Work Location: Remote

Internship Description

The Marketing Department ensures that teachers, students, and the general public learn about the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s wide variety of programs and events.

In support of the Marketing Department, the Graphic Design Intern will perform the following:

• Create original, compelling, and eye-catching designs for social media, email campaign templates, and products for the Gilder Lehrman History Shop
• Bring a fresh look to the Institute’s branding and an understanding of how to use design to make an organization’s resources and programs stand out in a crowded and competitive marketplace (in this case, the K–12 education sphere)

Desired Skills

• Graphic design experience
• Canva and Adobe Creative Cloud

Skills to Be Developed

• The use of creative graphic design and messaging to build market share and brand awareness

Apply

History School Intern

Department: Educational Programs
Internship Term: June 16–August 22, 2025
Hours per Week: 20
Student Type: High School, Undergraduate, or Graduate Student
Work Location: Remote

Internship Description

• History School features online courses led by master teachers who present lessons anchored in primary sources, many from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, which is an archive of over 87,000 American history documents. Courses are targeted to high school students and are presented live on Zoom.
• History U offers free, self-paced courses in American history to high school students. Each course includes video lectures by a leading history professor, primary source in-depth readings, short quizzes, and a certificate of completion.
• In support of these programs, the History School Intern will perform the following:
  • Moderate Zoom chats and assist in technical troubleshooting as needed during History School live sessions (dates and times TBD). Interns will co-moderate with a staff member for the first 5–10 minutes of each session and then be the sole moderator for the remainder of each session.
  • Pull attendance records and update information in GLI’s TalentLMS learning management system
  • Assist with History School email management
  • Provide initial review and correction of citations on slides before handing off to program leads and editorial team
  • Download and archive Zoom session recordings to add to video server, Dropbox, and Vimeo

Desired Skills

• Attention to detail
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Working knowledge of Google Suite and Zoom
• Basic knowledge of Chicago Manual of Style

Skills to Be Developed

• Student programming and distance learning
• Presentation, editing, and research skills
• Zoom, TalentLMS (learning management system), Excel, Google Suite, PowerPoint, and Salesforce (contact management system)

Apply

MA Program and Self-Paced Courses Intern

Department: MA Program
Internship Term: June 9–August 8, 2025
Hours per Week: 15
Student Type: Undergraduate or Graduate Student
Work Location: Remote

Internship Description

The Gilder Lehrman Institute partners with Gettysburg College to offer a master’s degree in American history. It is an online, fully accredited, 30-credit degree program.

GLI also offers more than fifty Self-Paced Courses that are graduate-level seminars led by the nation’s top historians.

In support of these programs, the MA Program and Self-Paced Courses Intern will perform the following:

• Facilitate Q&A sessions with MA students held over Zoom
• Format syllabi, slides, and other materials for use in MA courses
• Answer inquiries from current and prospective students
• Adapt lectures from MA program courses into Self-Paced Courses in GLI’s learning management system
• Collect feedback from users to improve courses

Desired Skills

• Familiarity with learning management systems
• Attention to detail
• Excellent customer service skills

Skills to Be Developed

• Facilitating Q&A sessions
• TalentLMS (learning management system), Excel, Google Suite

Apply

Teacher In-Person Seminars Intern

Department: Educational Programs
Internship Term: June 16–August 16, 2025
Hours per Week: 10
Student Type: High School, Undergraduate, or Graduate Student
Work Location: Remote

Internship Description

• The Gilder Lehrman Institute manages remote weeklong Teacher Seminars Online for high school teachers throughout the summer, along with a small slate of Teacher Seminars In Person with a live-streamed lecture component.

In support of the Teacher Seminars program for in-person participants, the Teacher Seminars Intern will perform the following:

• Check program deliverables to ensure that each attendee is prepared for their seminar week
• Moderate Zoom chat and assist in technical troubleshooting as needed during in-person seminar livestream sessions (dates and times TBD). Interns will co-moderate with a staff member for the first 5–10 minutes of each session and then be the sole moderator following that point in each session.
• Provide assistance to participants who submit questions via email
• Pull attendance records and send certificates to participants
• Download and archive Zoom session recordings to add to video server, Dropbox, and Vimeo

Desired Skills

• Attention to detail
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Comfort speaking to a group in a virtual setting
• Previous use of Zoom, Google Slides/Microsoft PowerPoint, and Google Sheets/Microsoft Excel preferred

Skills to Be Developed

• Manage logistics for virtual distance learning programs
• Communication with the general public
• Zoom, Google Suite

Apply

Teacher Online Seminars Intern

Department: Educational Programs
Internship Term: June 9–August 8, 2025
Hours per Week: 15
Student Type: High School, Undergraduate, or Graduate Student
Work Location: Remote

Internship Description

The Gilder Lehrman Institute manages remote weeklong Teacher Seminars Online for high school teachers throughout the summer, along with a small slate of Teacher Seminars In Person with a live-streamed lecture component.

In support of the Institute’s Teacher Seminars program for online participants, the Teacher Seminars Intern will perform the following duties:

• Moderate Zoom chat and assist in technical troubleshooting as needed during seminar live sessions (taking place 11 a.m.–1 p.m., 1 p.m.–3 p.m., 3 p.m.–5 p.m., and 6 p.m.–8 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday–Thursday) Each intern will have their own designated time block. Interns will co-moderate with a seminar production lead on the GLI staff for the first 15–20 minutes of each session and then be the sole moderator for the remainder of the session.
• Pull attendance records and update records
• Create certificates as needed for professional development credits
• Provide initial review and correction of citations on scholar and master teacher slides before handing off to the seminar production lead and editorial team

Desired Skills

• Attention to detail
• Ability to communicate well with others
• Comfort speaking to a group in a virtual setting
• Strong time management
• Previous use of Zoom, Google Slides/Microsoft PowerPoint, and Google Sheets/Microsoft Excel preferred

Skills to Be Developed

• Produce live programming on Zoom and effectively moderate Zoom chats and the deployment of polls
• Zoom, TalentLMS (learning management system), Salesforce campaigns (contact management system), Google Slides, PowerPoint, Google Sheets, and Excel

Apply