Padnos Museum Internship

The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum seeks currently enrolled junior and senior undergraduates and graduate students to apply for its collections-based internship program. 

To be successful in the rewarding and fiercely competitive field of museum work, students must apply their skills beyond the classroom. Increasingly, employers and graduate programs desire practical experience to accompany a degree in the humanities. The Padnos Museum Internship Program offers students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience working with museum collections.

The program's core focuses on collections management, where digitizing the collection is a primary objective. Interns work directly with historical artifacts through various projects, ranging from cataloging and inventorying artifacts to cleaning the Museum’s replica of the Oval Office to helping install and deinstall exhibits. Interns will also learn about museum theory and practice through guided readings.

Students complete 240 hours of work over a 12-to-14-week period, just about the length of a semester.  Internships with a reduced time commitment can be discussed with museum staff. Although we encourage students to pursue course credit for the experience, it is not required. We are happy to work with university departments to help students fulfill academic requirements for the opportunity. We can also work with graduate students to meet their specific academic needs.

The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation provides a stipend of $1,000 upon completion of the internship.

Previous museum experience is not required.

Interested candidates can apply by sending a cover letter and current resume via Handshake or by sending a cover letter and current resume to the museum's registrar, Noelle Ward at: noelle.ward@nara.gov
 

Spring Internship Deadlines:
November 26, 2024: Application deadline
January 15, 2025: Internship beings (flexible)