Resume and Cover Letter Writing for Public Historians

Writing resumes and cover letters can be incredibly frustrating when applying for career positions. There is a lot of conflicting information and advice online that is rarely geared towards those in public history, museum, and non-profit work. In this workshop, Historic New England hiring manager Dr. Alissa Butler will cover: 

• How a resume, a cover letter, and an interview are viewed and used by managers in the hiring process 
• The purposes and goals of resumes, cover letters, and CVs and how to effectively write them for a humanities-based position 
• How to read a job ad and appropriately respond to it in your resume and cover letter 
• Expert level tips for interviewing 

This event is open to any graduate students interested in public humanities and museum work. 

Questions about this event can be directed to Jessica Keene jkeene@umass.edu

Dr. Alissa Butler is a Rhode Island resident and manages the research branch of Historic New England, called the Study Center. She has a bachelor’s degree in history from Arizona State University, a master’s degree in American Studies from the University of Massachusetts Boston, and a PhD in American Cultural Studies from Bowling Green State University. Her work at the Study Center oversees research projects that focus on marginalized and erased groups to help bring their stories to the public. Most notably is the organization-wide initiative Recovering New England’s Voices (RNEV). Before coming to Historic New England, she taught university courses in American history, ethnic studies, cultural studies, media studies, and museum studies. She has also worked in museum education, programming, and non-profit administration.