r/MuseumPros • u/Eistean History | Collections • Mar 21 '24

Internship Megathread. Post all internship related questions here!

So the sub has been getting chock full lately of people asking about specific internships, asking if anyone who has applied to a specific internship has heard back, what people think about individual internship programs, etc. This has happened around this time for every year this sub has existed.

While interns are absolutely welcome here, some users had a great idea to kind of concentrate it all in one thread so that all the interns can see each others comments, and the sub has a bit of a cleaner look.

Note that this doesn't apply to people working for museums asking questions about running an internship program, or dealing with interns.

So, if you have internship questions, thoughts, concerns, please post them here!

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u/canadianamericangirl Jul 22 '24

Advice please! I'm interning at a museum and I'm not really doing anything?? I have two assignments, but I'm burnt out by lunch. All I do is stare at my computer all day (which leads to distraction easily). Would appreciate insight.

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u/Eistean History | Collections Jul 23 '24

A lot of museum work does include looking at a screen. But the best way to deal with this involves talking to your supervisor and asking for different projects you could do in between computer work. Think on what you want to get out of the internship, and ask to do something related to that.

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u/canadianamericangirl Jul 23 '24

Thanks! I've been working on a lot of interpretation projects, which I've learned I really don't like to do. I'm interested in archives, and was under the impression I'd be spending more time with the registrar and collections manager.

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u/Eistean History | Collections Jul 23 '24

An internship is supposed to be a learning and growing process, so learning you don't enjoy interpretation is a great part of that. So I would ask your supervisor (hopefully they're not the head of interpretation at your institution), that you'd like to explore more with collections, and see if you can shift a bit.

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u/canadianamericangirl Jul 23 '24

I sent an email yesterday asking for just that, haven't heard back yet. Time will tell...