The National Capital Region of the National Park Service (NPS) includes a vast range of ways to experience American landscapes and their human histories, from neighborhood green spaces in Washington, D.C., to memorials on the National Mall, Civil War battlefields, and nature preserves. Together, they tell stories of the growth of cities and transportation networks, and their dependence on the natural world; the growing tensions around slavery and secession that ripped the country apart in the Civil War; and the ways different ethnic groups, women, and LBGTQ people have reshaped rural and urban communities in the modern United States.
In the NPS’s Division of Resource Stewardship & Science, cultural resource managers study and protect the human connections that make these places meaningful. Their work draws on history, archeology, cultural landscapes, architecture, and ethnography. They depend on up-to-date research to make decisions about how to preserve and maintain public lands, incorporate new perspectives and knowledge, and tell relevant, accurate stories to staff and visitors.
National Capital Region internships offer opportunities to contribute to this research while learning about environmental history, landscapes, climate change impacts on archeological and historic sites, and how cultural resource managers preserve these sites for the public.
Location
Internships will be located in the National Capital Region, which includes Washington, D.C., and parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Students will match with parks or programs based on their interests and availability, such as:
- Catoctin Mountain Park, Thurmont, MD
- George Washington Memorial Parkway, McLean, VA
- Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA
- National Mall and Memorial Parks, Washington, DC
- Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC
- Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Harpers Ferry, WV
- National Capital Region Museum Resource Center, Landover, MD
Dates
Flexible, to be determined based on student and park staff summer availability
Contact Information & How to Apply:
Dean Herrin, Ph.D.
Chief Historian, National Capital Region
(202) 619-7279
Emily Button Kambic, Ph.D. (Williams ’07)
Cultural Resources Public Outreach Coordinator, National Capital Region
ACLS/Mellon Public Fellow
(202) 619-7273
To apply, please email Dean or Emily with a letter of interest and resume. We will send a list of opportunities in all of the parks, organize a phone interview with a potential supervisor, and work with you and park staff to arrange your internship. You are welcome to contact us with questions at any time.
Funding
Many available projects are important but unfunded, which makes these internships unpaid by default. You may be eligible to apply for the National Council for Preservation Education or Cultural Resources Diversity Internship Programs as potential sources of funding. These are separate programs with their own applications and requirements. For more information, please see the following links, or contact us with questions.
- National NPS paid internship and youth hiring programs:
www.nps.gov/subjects/youthprograms/youngadults.htm
- National Council for Preservation Education internships (jointly with the NPS Historic Preservation Internship Training Program):
www.nps.gov/tps/education/internships.htm
http://preservenet.cornell.edu/employ/ncpe.php
Check on these pages in spring 2017 for updates on the summer 2017 application cycle.
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