The role of internships in history is to provide experiential learning in an area of the student's interest that complements the student's academic coursework. Internships involve practical experience at an off-campus facility that is directly supervised by a person professionally trained and employed in the field of study that is the focus of the internship. It is expected that the student will gain some insight into the requirements for working in the field of study and at least some basic experience in on-the-job training. All internships will involve a combination of formal academic work supervised by departmental faculty and practical experience supervised by an on-site director. The requirements and responsibilities of the internship will be developed jointly by the faculty supervisor, the on-site supervisor, and the student.
Examples of organizations where our students have interned include:
African American Museum
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Brooklyn Historical Society
Community Outreach and Grant Writer- The City of New York Civilian Review Board
County Executive – Nassau
Cradle of Aviation
District Attorney’s Office – Nassau County
King Manor Museum
Louis Armstrong House Museum
Museum of American Finance
Museum of Elridge Street
Museum of the Moving Image
National Archives- New York City
National Museum of the American Indian – The George Gustav Heye Center
Nassau County Office of Senator Gillibrand
New York Historical Society
Northport Historical Society and Museum
Office of the County Clerk – Nassau
Office of the Mayor – New York City
Old Bethpage Village
Queens Historical Society
Sagamore Hill
Tenement Museum
The Cloisters
The New York State Legislature
Town of North Hempstead
Vanderbilt Museum
How to Obtain an Internship
There is a specific internship course in History – HIST 199 – that may be taken for 3 or 6 semester hours’ credit. Procedures for internships require students to secure the agreement of a faculty member to sponsor the academic side of the internship, securing the participation of an on-site supervisor, the development of a reading list related to the field of the internship, and the determination of the number of on-site hours a student will be required to complete.
Typically, students will approach faculty with a request for an internship at a specific site or in a particular area of study and the faculty member will work out details. The internship is evaluated by both the faculty member and the on-site supervisor and the student's grade reflects the combination of those two evaluations.