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Applications Open for the 2025 Student Public Historian Internship

By WashU Libraries

The Julian Edison Department of Special Collections at WashU Libraries invites applications from undergraduate students at Washington University in St. Louis for its Student Public Historian internship. The internship provides a valuable professional development opportunity in which students will gain exposure to reparative archival and public history work by meaningfully contributing to research being conducted by the WashU Libraries. 

The Student Public Historian will learn the contours of working in archives and special collections by working closely with the Reparative Public Historian and University Archivist. The ideal applicant has an interest in using archives to communicate marginalized or challenging histories and has a passion for sharing history with others.  

The student will primarily work with university archival collections to assist with reparative description in finding aids and contribute to the WashU & Slavery Project digital archive. In addition, the Student Public Historian will be able to contribute to related Libraries projects based on their demonstrated interest. Such opportunities may include, but are not limited to:

  • facilitating crowdsourced contributions to the WashU & Slavery digital archive
  • conducting research on early university leadership and the people they enslaved
  • contributing to a digital humanities mapping project
  • developing a small exhibit for display in John M. Olin Library drawing upon records in Special Collections and reparative work around marginalized histories.

Applicants who are interested in proposing a different project should reach out in advance to Kelly Schmidt, Reparative Public Historian, to discuss the project’s feasibility.

Position and Application Details

The Student Public Historian will contribute approximately 300 hours from mid-May to mid-August in person at Olin Library and receive a $5,000 stipend, disbursed in equal portions at the end of each month (the recipient is responsible for securing their own housing).

Apply for the Student Public Historian Internship

Submission Deadline

Applications are due by February 3, 2025. Applicants will be notified of a decision in March 2024.