Description

The National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE)’s Internship Program is a partnership with the National Park Service and other Federal agencies with cultural resource protection and public land management responsibilities. The purpose is to accomplish needed and important work on federally protected lands while providing program participants with professional experience in their chosen fields. Interns work under the guidance of agency staff who are subject area experts to carry out the mission of the park.

To be eligible, applicants must be between 18 and 30 years old (or 35 if a veteran) when starting the internship, a post-secondary student (certificate program, 2-year, 4-year, or graduate level), or a recent graduate (within the past 12 months at the time of application), and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.  

Introduction

Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site is a historic house and cultural institution whose occupants shaped our nation. It was a site of colonial enslavement and community activism, George Washington’s first long-term headquarters of the American Revolution, and the place where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his canon of 19th-century American literature. During this internship, the successful candidate will gain experience in museum collections and archives management, while also providing public access to the site’s historic archival and photograph collections.

About the Collection

The archival and photograph collections of Longfellow House- Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site (LONG) include over 450 linear feet of personal papers of the extended Longfellow family and records regarding the preservation and management of the historic site.  Within the archival collections are over 11,500 photographs and negatives dating from 1840 to 1970, encompassing a wide range of photographic processes and topics. The museum and archival collections complement each other, giving the collections depth and exceptional research value; together they provide insight into the personal and public lives of the Longfellow family.

Goals and Duties

The intern’s primary project will be preparing digitized material from the archival collections for upload to the site’s Digital Archive Portal on NP Gallery.  This work includes working with the archivist to establish publication priorities, following established procedures to format and embed item-level metadata, formatting full-text transcriptions of manuscript documents where available, and completing missing catalog information where needed.

The intern will also have the opportunity to assist with public research requests relating to the collection and to identify an area of interest for their own small research project to enable the intern to discover some of the connections inherent in the park’s collections.  Potential products of a research project include an interpretive web article or contributions to temporary exhibit development.

The intern will work under the supervision of the archivist and work closely as a team with NPS curatorial staff (archivist, museum curator, and museum technician).  The intern will have opportunities to connect with staff across divisions, including with interpretive rangers working with the public.

In addition to the $18.50/hour stipend, compensation includes an $875 monthly housing stipend and $500 training stipend.

Schedule
This internship will begin May 26, 2026, and conclude on December 18, 2026.  Workdays for the full-time schedule are Monday through Friday.

This is an in-person internship; limited situational telework is available. A background security investigation may be required before the start date. All NCPE internships accrue 4 hours of Paid Time Off (PTO) for every 80 hours worked. This position is provisional and will be finalized once funding is secure.

Professional Development

The intern will receive training and experience in the use of Museum Collections Management System (MCMS), the Department of Interior’s collections management database system.

The intern will be part of a cohort of three partner youth positions at the site, working on projects in research, archives, interpretation, and outreach.

This internship includes a stipend for professional development, which may be expended on a professional conference or other training.

Federal Hiring Authority Opportunity

Qualified NCPE interns who complete their internships may count their position towards earning a Public Land Corps (PLC) Non-Competitive Hiring Authority certificate.  Once earned, the PLC certificate can be used to apply for eligible Federal permanent, temporary, or term positions. Visit https://preservenet.org/ncpe-internships/ for details about this benefit. Successful completion of the internship does not guarantee Federal employment.

Requirements

Applicants must be enrolled in a 2- or 4-year educational institution seeking a degree or have graduated within the past 12 months from the closing date of this announcement. Relevant fields of study include, but are not limited to: Archives Management, Cultural Heritage Informatics, Information Science and Technology, Public History, and Museum Studies.

Experience with using computer software (i.e., word processing/spreadsheet programs, photo editing software, and databases) required.

Ability to work with large or complicated sets of data which require attention to detail required. Experience in data entry, metadata management, and/or using databases in a cultural heritage context preferred.

Must be 30 years of age or younger (or 35 if a Veteran) when beginning the internship.

Applicants will be required to successfully complete a Tier 1 federal background check prior to the start of the internship. This includes fingerprinting and suitability determination for working with a federal agency.