Internships
The Department of History recommends an internship as elective credit for the major.
HISTORY 195 301 - Apprenticeship in History / Offered by Independent Study
The course is treated as an introduction to "public history." It is likely to be of greatest interest to history majors and minors who do not necessarily plan careers as teachers. However, prospective teachers who enrolled in it had excellent experiences. Although public history is properly a field for graduate study, undergraduates are often well served by learning about the field and gaining experiences through internships that might qualify them for entry-level history positions.
This is the catalog description of the course:
The apprenticeship [which includes an internship] enables the student to acquire experience in such history-related fields as journal editing, museum and archival work, and the collection and preservation of historical materials.
To earn three credits in the course (a range of one to six hours is possible), students engage in an internship of at least 100 on-site hours, maintain a log of their activities, and meet regularly with their internship supervisor. They also meet weekly with the professor in charge to review their internship experiences, discuss readings in public history appropriate to their interests, plan and review progress on a paper (usually 8-12 pages in length) related to their special interests in public history, and consider career options open to students of history.
This internship course was initially offered in 1997, with 13 students enrolled. Since then, many students have been enrolled by Independent Study.
Their internships have included the following:
Living History Farms / Interpreter
State Historical Association of Iowa / Writer in Public Affairs
State Historical Society of Iowa / Office of Historic Preservation
State Historical Society of Iowa / Conservation
State Historical Society of Iowa / History Day
State Historical Society of Iowa / Office of the Registrar
State Historical Society of Iowa / Education Department
State Historical Society of Iowa / Archives
State Historical Society of Iowa / Library
Gold Star Museum at Camp Dodge (Iowa National Guard)
Last Modified: 08/08/07
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