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Digital Humanities Internship for Latino Projects

The intern will learn about museum and community engagement practice by working with the National Museum of American History (NMAH) team to build two relatively simple websites on the NMAH server: one for a project called Collective Care: Responses to Natural and Human-Made Disasters in Puerto Rico (CCPR), in collaboration with the Hurricane Maria Archive and the University of Puerto Rico to document the recent overlapping crises that have affected Puerto Ricans on the island and the diaspora, and which will result in an exhibition in 2026; the second is for a project on The First 100: 50 Years of Chicanas Changing History (CCH), to build a digital archive in collaboration with the University of Michigan, which chronicles the lives and careers of Chicanas in academia over 50 years to demonstrate the importance of their contributions to the field of History. Time permitting, the intern may have the opportunity to work with other Latino history projects as well. 

Collective Care in Puerto Rico is a research and collecting initiative that builds on ongoing work in and with communities in Puerto Rico to document and collect physical objects and born-digital assets related to the impact of COVID-19 on the Island. Caring for each other through multiple disasters, Puerto Ricans have invented forms of survival that respond to the specificities of their situation. After hurricane María, community-led recovery efforts generated forms of collective care that defied the structural violence that kills Puerto Ricans through austerity measures, environmental destruction, food insecurity, and racism. The stories collected and told through this project, as well as the methods used to co-create them, offer new and timely ways to think about how communities can respond to climate change and how researchers and institutions can work with and for communities. 

The First 100 documents the state of the field of Chicana history through in-depth oral history interviews with the women who have lived it and shaped it, creating an intellectual space for these groundbreaking historians to articulate their scholarly journeys in their own words. This project is a partnership between the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the Latino Initiatives Pool administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, the University of Michigan Library system, the University of California Los Angeles’s Chicano Studies Research Center, and the University of California Berkeley’s Bancroft Library. These interviews demonstrate how Chicana historians diversified historical themes, analyses, methodologies, and sources, shifting historical focus to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, identity, and space. These trailblazing historians transformed the way we do history, the way we understand history, and who is included in the history of the United States. 

An intern working with these two projects will support the building of our digital presence on the NMAH side, conduct background research to better understand project needs and will use a collaborative approach to the website design. The project will learn from this intern’s experience and expertise.

Intern will work on the following project pieces:

  1. NMAH-based website landing pages and sub-pages: Working under the guidance of the New Media Team: Matt MacArthur and David McOwen, the intern will create two bilingual web portals for the projects that feature community and institutional partners, new acquisitions, and information about the project. Intern will learn best practices for creating a website landing page at the National Museum of American History. 
  2. Background research: Through project-based background research and outreach to our partner organizations, the intern will learn about project partners and how to communicate needs to stakeholders. Collecting this information will provide the intern with the big picture, and they will gain first-hand knowledge of what it means to work closely with communities and curators on digital humanities projects. They will also learn to design the website contents for user experience as they compile the information needed to populate the site.
  3. Collaborative Approach to Public History: The intern will work with project teams, “Do No Harm” exhibition team, the University of Michigan team, and the New Media team to complete this project. They will hone a collaborative approach to public history and develop skills that will last a lifetime.
  4. Latino Web Content: Time permitting, the intern may have the opportunity to work with other current and former Latino history projects to build out their web presence as well. This work may provide a unique opportunity to work across curatorial teams and to see some of the long-term digital archiving work that is needed over time. 
  5. Producing Web Content: Additionally, if the intern would like to publish his/her/their own work as a blog or more scholarly piece, this project will help them understand the steps in that publication process.

Goal: Overall, this internship aims to teach interns the skills required to ethically engage in digital humanities with community partners, focused on Latino history.

Status: Virtual

Anticipated Learning Objectives: By the end of this internship, the intern will be able to:
  • Work with a project team and community partners to develop content of landing pages 
  • Understand best practices of web development as well as the complexities of working within a large institution and multiple stakeholders. 
  • Conduct background research and create a site to add to their portfolio.
  • Understand 1) the goals and history of the project; 2) how objects are acquired; 3) what community partnerships look like and how they are formed; and 4) one model for community-driven digital humanities methodology
  • Utilize website content to support an organization's mission and partners with other aspects of public education and outreach
  • Increase competency in website design, accessibility, and user experience practices
  • Produce user-centered web products that meet the high quality standards

Expected Responsibilities: During the internship, the intern should expect to:
  • Work with project team and community partners to develop the content of landing pages for two NMAH projects. 
  • Learn best practices of web development with our NMAH new media team as well as the complexities of working within a large institution and multiple stakeholders. 
  • Conduct background research and build a site to add to their portfolio.
  • Explore 1) the goals and history of the project; 2) how objects are acquired; 3) what community partnerships look like and how they are formed; and 4) one model for community-driven digital humanities methodology
  • Develop website content to support the Museum mission and partners with other aspects of public education and outreach
  • Increase competency in website design, accessibility, and user experience practices
  • Produce user-centered web products that meet the high quality standards of the Smithsonian Institution

Ideal Qualifications / Prerequisites: The ideal intern applicant is/has:
  • Preferred experience with web content management tools like WordPress, Drupal, Omeka.
  • Experience with photoshop or photo manipulation is a plus.
  • Basic understanding of Spanish will be helpful, and general understanding of the digital humanities.

Audience: This internship is specialized for individuals who already have experience in this field (web content, digital humanities). This internship is intended for 1 intern. Community college students, undergraduates, recent graduates, graduate students, career changers, and other professionals are encouraged to apply.

Timeline: This internship will take place for 8 months between February - September 2023. The internship is expected to be part-time, 15-20 hours per week.

Eligible for Academic Credit: Yes! Interns may receive program or course credit for this experience if approved by their educational institution. Though NMAH does not itself award credit, the Interns and Fellows Office will help coordinate the requirements for credit with the educational institution.

Optional Enrichment Opportunities: Interns are invited to participate in optional opportunities during the internship that support professional growth and foster understanding about the museum field.

Financial Information: This opportunity provides a minimum total stipend of $15,000 (approximately $1,875 per month) to defray technology and/or commuting costs during the internship, and after being selected, interns are able to apply for additional stipend funding based on self-disclosed financial need. The total awarded amount of the stipend depends on the availability of museum funds and is at the discretion of NMAH. Please note that stipends cannot be distributed before the start of an internship, and we typically recommend that an intern has at least enough external funding to cover the first month's expenses to accommodate the wait time required in stipend processing. To learn more, please check out our Internship FAQ page.