Please note: The Archives will not be offering any internship or volunteer opportunities during the 2024 calendar year.
The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation funds stipend-based archival internships each year to current graduate and undergraduate students in the fields of archives management, library science, museum studies, history/public history, or digital media.
Internships are part time (16 hours per week) and are offered during Winter-Spring (December 15-May 15), Spring-Summer (May 15-August 15), and Summer-Fall (August 15-December 15). Internships are available to United States citizens or legal residents who have a Social Security number.
Here, you will find a summary of the internships offered in each Archives unit. For a list of current internship openings and requirements for applying, please visit our Vacancies page.
Archives Processing
Textual: Interns learn the basic principles of arrangement and description, as well as preservation and rehousing techniques for paper-based collections.
Audiovisual: Interns may assist with collection control, inventories, preservation, database management, and other tasks related to moving image, sound recording, and photograph collections.
Oral History: Interns participate in the transcription, editing, and organization of the Oral History Collections. Duties may include web page creation and editing.
Archives Digitization
Textual: Interns may participate in all aspects of the digitization process for textual materials including metadata creation; the preparation and scanning of archival materials; and the creation or revision of finding aids.
Audiovisual: Interns may participate in all aspects of the digitization process for audiovisual materials including metadata creation, which may include: research on image content; the preparation and scanning of archival materials; quality control of images; and the creation or revision of finding aids.
Archives Reference
Textual: Interns learn to provide archival reference services for remote and on-site researchers, including conducting research in holdings and secondary sources, communicating with patrons, and providing user instruction. Interns also work on archival preservation, database and records management, on-demand digitization, interlibrary loan, social media outreach, and special projects.
Audiovisual: Interns answer reference requests and make reproductions of audiovisual materials. In the course of their duties, interns handle original photographs, negatives, ¼” reel-to-reel audio tape, and motion picture film, among other media, and learn to use the video editing system, the digital audio workstation, and the photo scanning station.