Though most internships are completed within the immediate Bloomington/Normal area, students have worked as interns across and even outside the state, serving in a surprising variety of settings. Students typically choose to work in such settings as archives, museums, historical societies and other agencies of history but students have also worked within non-profit and governmental agencies, as well as businesses.
Past placements in the Bloomington-Normal area have included the McLean County Museum of History, David Davis Mansion, ISU University Archives, the ISU Students’ Legal Services Office, and Country Insurance and Financial Services. Placements outside the local area have included: Early American Museum, Mahomet; Weldon Springs State Recreation Area, Clinton; Jefferson County Museum & Village, Mt. Vernon; Elgin Area Historical Society & Museum; Peoria Historical Society; Caterpillar, Inc., Peoria; DuSable Museum of African-American History, Chicago; Chicago Historical Society; Gardner Museum of Architecture and Design, Quincy; and the LaSalle County Historical Society.
To a great extent, that is up to the agency and to you. Most interns are interested in acquiring experience that will allow them to explore opportunities in professional fields that are kin to the discipline of history, such as archives, museums, or libraries, Other students, however, have explored opportunities that may have little to do with history per se but have given them the change to put to the test the skills that they have developed as students in history.
Either approach is viable.
Sad to say, internships typically pay only in experience, though occasionally an internship may lead to permanent employment within an organization or business. More often than not, however, the primary, practical benefit—aside from receiving course credit—is that internships can strengthen your resume and better position you to secure a position elsewhere. Though a recommendation is perhaps but a limited benefit, it is no small benefit in a highly competitive job market that is found within the discipline of history and its history-related fields.
Ultimately, though, it is the experience that can be gained that justifies the internship.
As you would expect, any site that sponsors internships hopes to attract the best qualified students. To that end, the History Department limits internships to well-qualified majors in History and Social Sciences and to students in the teacher education sequence, as well as its graduate students.
While internships—formally Professional Practice (Hist 398 or Hist 498)—seldom command a stipend they do carry academic credit, with students claiming from one to three credit hours, with three credit hours being typical. For each credit hour carried, a student will be committing no less than 55 hours of work at a site, plus the additional time that must be devoted to the preparation of a midterm report and a final paper. Be aware, however, that a site may require students to commit hours beyond what the department itself requires.
As an intern, your primary challenge will be to complete whatever tasks you may be assigned at the site. That goes without saying, but do remember—always—that an internship represents a critical opportunity not only to gain experience but also an opportunity to secure a recommendation. Take the opportunity seriously.
Your site supervisor will be asked to submit an evaluation of your work and that evaluation will, of course, play a significant role in determining your final grade. In addition to whatever tasks you are assigned at your internship site, you must also submit:
For more information regarding the report and essay see Guidelines for the Midterm Report and Final Essay.
Regrettably, the application process can be something of a trial. Our internal procedures are reasonably straight-forward but it can sometimes be difficult to complete each of the required steps, but be persistent. It can be done.
Applicants must complete all the departmental application procedures and be formally accepted into the program. When a candidate meets whatever qualifications the site may have established and submits the formal, signed contract, the application process is complete and the student may register for the program.
To secure all of the necessary documents, visit Application Procedures and Forms.
