Humanities at Work Spring 2027 Internships

Humanities at Work connects students with hands-on internships at cultural, civic, and creative organizations throughout Greater Boston. The opportunities below span museums, archives, media, architecture, environmental advocacy, arts administration, and communications, giving students the chance to apply their skills to meaningful projects, explore potential career paths, and gain valuable professional experience.

Internships

Curatorial Research and Collections Intern, Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation

Key projects include recovering and telling the stories of workers represented in our archives, from early Boston Manufacturing Company mill workers to 20th-century engineers and machinists, using payroll records, obituaries, and primary sources. Focus on archival research, object research, cataloging, exhibit development, and historical storytelling. Contribute to the Massachusetts Tech Pioneers Oral History Project through source research, indexing interview material, and drafting narrative summaries, as well as conducting archival research in our holdings and connecting it to outside collections like MHS and Baker Library. Produce catalog entries, primary source research summaries, indexed oral history interviews, and drafted narrative content for upcoming exhibits and archival collections by end of semester.

Museum Interpretation and Public Engagement Intern, Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation

Train as a gallery tour guide and lead public and school tours, developing the interpretive skills to bring the museum's collections and history to life for visitors. Research topics from our collections and archives to turn into public-facing materials, including gallery labels, tour scripts, handouts, and web or social media content. Additionally, develop short interpretive pieces connecting specific objects or machines in the collection to the larger story of American industrialization, and assist with community outreach and events. Pending funding, there may also be opportunities to facilitate youth leadership and peer mentoring in STEM through our student innovation space. Produce completed interpretive materials such as gallery labels, handouts, and tour scripts. They will also gain direct public-facing experience through leading tours and facilitating educational programming by end of semester.

Intern, Goethe-Institut Boston

Will assist with the preparation of "The Shadow of the Sea—Cinema and the Spectrality of Seafaring," an international, interdisciplinary conference hosted by the Goethe-Institut Boston. The conference will take place April 23–25, 2027. Projects include conference preparation, research for an international film series accompanying the conference, and public relations and communications related to the conference.

Communications and Marketing Intern, The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston

Support the development and execution of effective communications and marketing campaigns that engage audiences for the ICA, assist in creating content for the ICA’s social media channels, produce compelling institutional eNews, update the website, and track KPIs/performance metrics. Contributee to the production of a wide range of marketing materials, with a strong emphasis on social media content, website, and email.

Family and School Programs Intern, The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston

Work closely with ICA Education staff on the implementation and evaluation of programs and resources for a range of learners, with a specific focus on family and K-12 audiences. Deepen understanding of contemporary art and the day-to-day operations of a mid-sized art museum’s education department.  

Intern, Lexington Arts and Crafts Society (LexArt) 

We would like our Humanities at Work interns to familiarize themselves with our resources, reach out to a broad range of area organizations, through email, phone and possible in-person meetings and help craft programs that can help meet the needs of these groups and their members/clients. Programs might include classes or workshops, art and craft-oriented events, lectures, demonstrations, panel discussion events, or simply providing use of our space for meetings or events. Another area that may prove mutually beneficial to LexArt and Humanities at Work interns is helping to make our gallery exhibitions more accessible to the public, by talking to and or interviewing artists, analyzing artworks and writing didactic or explanatory text. Our gallery is staffed by volunteers, many engaged in art and craft activities, but not formally trained in studio art, art history or in possession of an understanding or vocabulary that equips them to aid our visiting public. Intern produced text could serve dual purposes or both aiding gallery staff and or being displayed in the gallery. 

Microfilm Digitization & Data Management Intern, Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance

Are you interested in working with historical records and learning how information is preserved and accessed in the digital age? We are seeking a detail-oriented and motivated intern to support the digitization of archival materials. In this role, you’ll gain hands-on experience transforming microfilm records into searchable digital resources, helping make important historical information more accessible for researchers, agencies, and the public. Interns may have the opportunity to contribute to a defined digitization project from start to finish. This internship is ideal for students interested in archives, digital humanities, data management, or public sector work. 

Intern , Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA)

Work with a dynamic, collaborative team to increase awareness about environmental pollution, climate and ecological resilience, and safe recreation, and to amplify opportunities to connect with our organization and get involved with our work. Draft copy for social media posts, newsletters, and blog posts, manage social media engagement by monitoring comments, direct messages, tags, and collaboration requests, create digital assets, including flyers, social media carousels, short-form videos, etc, create content for an initiative that provides pollution content pieces for cities and towns to share, update MyRWA’s website and public calendar, create and publish events on digital platforms (GivePulse, Facebook events, Patagonia Action Works, online event boards), track and report on social media analytics, assist with the creation of MyRWA’s 2x/month newsletter, write one blog post to be published on the MyRWA website. Tracking press coverage of MyRWA’s work and press interactions, supporting MyRWA’s spring events and tabling efforts, including clean-ups, community fairs, etc, and helping build MyRWA’s library of high-quality photographs and vertical video of events, landscapes, and people enjoying the Mystic River will also be expected.

Intern, National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA

Research topics related to Scottish art, architecture, cultural heritage, historic places, and the collections and properties cared for by the National Trust for Scotland. Working with NTSUSA staff, identify and develop a series of stories that will help American audiences engage with Scotland’s heritage and understand the importance of its preservation. Projects may include researching artists, artworks, historic interiors, architectural features, decorative arts, conservation projects, and connections between Scotland and the United States. Evaluate and synthesize information from credible primary and secondary sources, identify suitable images and supporting materials, and adapt their research for different public audiences and digital platforms. Final products will include a portfolio of publication-ready or near-publication-ready content for use throughout 2027, including articles for ntsusa.org and accompanying posts for NTSUSA’s Facebook and Instagram channels. Interns may also assist with developing a content calendar and organizing research, images, citations, and other materials so that the content can be scheduled after the internship concludes. 

Intern, Paul Revere Museum of Discovery and Innovation 

Standard day-to-day museum work including greeting visitors, selling tickets, answering questions, helping people with the interactive exhibits. Design and run a handful of special events on weekends at the Paul Revere MoDI. These could be science experiments, make and take crafts, design challenges, or a combination of these sorts of events. Create events that tie in some way to the design thinking and innovation themes of the museum. Create digital content and marketing materials to go with the events.

Intern, William Hickling Prescott House  (Beacon Hill, Boston) 

Work with collections, i.e. cataloging, inventory, and photography, including becoming familiar with the PastPerfect database, object research, and development of interpretive materials. Undergo training process to learn the Prescott House public tour and give regular tours. Administrative work, including as filing and organization, preparing meeting agendas and board packets, preparing new member contracts and packets, communications, maintaining online calendar of events, coordinating event publicity, making website and social media updates, and event support and set-up will be expected.

Education Intern, Revolutionary Spaces

The RSI Education Interns work as part of the Education & Visitor Experience team, under the direction of the Education Manager. Interns have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with school groups in a museum setting, as well as the opportunity to facilitate programs for diverse audiences of all ages. Throughout the internship, interns will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with and learn from several RSI departments including exhibits, events, and civics education. Interns will also have the opportunity to propose and complete a self-directed project aligned with their area of study and professional interests. Projects may include writing and developing pre-visit materials for one RSI educational program, designing a worksheet/scavenger hunt to accompany an existing or future exhibit, writing a blog post highlighting an RSI educational program or initiative, or designing a theme and hands-on craft to be made available at one of RSI’s monthly Hands-on-History programs.

Collections Intern, Revolutionary Spaces

The RSI Collections Interns work as part of a small team under the direction of the Collections  Manager and Registrar. Interns gain hands on training and experience in fundamental collections handling, care, and stewardship practices, as well as instruction in navigating collections records, catalogs, and databases. The internship begins with a three week training period focused on preparing interns for the semester long program and introducing them to departmental procedures and workflows. Throughout the internship, interns will explore the practical application of collections management in a real-world museum setting, gaining insight into how professional standards are adapted to meet the unique needs of historic collections and institutions. Interns will also have the opportunity to propose and complete a self-directed project aligned with their area of study and professional interests. Projects may include conducting collections research for a future exhibition, developing a social media campaign to highlight a themed collection, or completing a series of basic conservation treatments to improve the housing and preservation of archival materials.

Arts & Culture Intern, Spark Newton

Contribute to communications, community engagement, cultural programming, and nonprofit administration while gaining broad exposure to nonprofit arts operations. Work across multiple areas of the organization and have the opportunity to see projects develop from start to finish.

This internship offers meaningful, hands-on experience for students interested in nonprofit arts administration, event management and production, public humanities, communications, community engagement, creative placemaking, and cultural programming.

Architecture Intern, Utile

Help visualize and document our architecture and urban design work. We use Revit, AutoCAD, Rhino, SketchUp, Photoshop, and Illustrator, and the Google Office Suite (Sheets, Docs, Slides, etc.) to produce presentation materials and documentation of our architecture and planning projects. Develop diagrams and renderings for presentations to producing drawings for architecture projects from early concept through full construction documentation, depending on each candidate's interests and abilities. 

Marketing Communications Intern, Utile

Work with our Marketing team, which oversees all of our project pursuits, press and publicity, social media, and business development. Focus on management and production of social media content, database management to support our project, press, and award pursuits, and various graphic design tasks. 

Archives Internship, WGBH

Update special collections, ensuring that archival radio and television programming recently added to the AAPB is also added to the relevant special collections. Update collection copy on the AAPB website as needed. Curate one or more original special collections in consultation with the AAPB’s media historian and curator. Work with the media historian and other members of the AAPB team to find relevant programs for inclusion in existing special collections. They will also revise special collection copy, enhance AAPB metadata, and update images and other ancillary special collection materials. In addition, the intern will curate at least one original special collection on a topic or theme of their choosing. The AAPB’s media historian will provide mentorship and guidance on the curatorial process.

Office of Inclusion Internship, WGBH

A firsthand look into what it takes to build and grow our initiatives. Work on high level projects that span the internal GBH community as well as the external communities we serve. Event planning to program design, content creation to presentation formulation. Work of past interns includes building out internal wiki pages, creating videos highlighting employees, and helping compose newsletters that are sent to all GBH Staff.