The Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History is looking for two interns for the collection for the Spring 2014 semester. These interns will gain hands on experience with historic documents, as well as the internal workings of an archive/special collection.

About the Gilder Lehrman Collection:

The collection is comprised of documents that cover the breadth of American History. While two of the main focuses of the institute are the Civil War era, and the American Revolution, the collection as a whole focuses on the evolution of freedom throughout American history. The collection supports the non-profit institute, whose goal is K-12 education using primary source material. As a result the collection gets used as a teaching aid as well as a traditional archive.

Archival Intern:

The Gilder Lehrman Collection seeks two Archival Interns to work with at least two of our collections by creating item level records and coordinating with publications, education and exhibitions departments. Primary responsibilities include organizing collections, creating database records using the PastPerfect database system, metadata tagging, making condition assessments, and selecting items for photography and transcription.

The main two collections:

1.      GLC04099: Collection of 84 printed treaties between the U.S. & Indian Nations. This collection contains treaties with the Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Rogue River, Nisqually, Ottoe, Cow Creek, Kickapoo, Choctaw, Chickasaw, the various Sioux bands, and Delaware, among others. Only a handful of copies are known of most of these treaties. The first treaty between an Indian nation and the United States government was concluded on Sept. 17, 1778 with the Delaware Nation at Fort Pitt. The Indian tribes, bands, and nations would be treated as sovereign nations, each signing numerous treaties of peace with the U.S. government. This process continued until March 3, 1871, when “executive agreements” took the place of treaties.

2.      GLC03902.01 Archive of correspondence re: Nova Scotia politics and mercantile affairs. This collection is the papers of Joshua Mauger, which spans the years 1758-1788 and is comprised of 343 items. The collection is primarily letters dealing with Mauger?s mercantile business. The goal of the internship is to process and itemize the collection to get it ready for a digitization project.

Applicants must be enrolled in an Archives, Library, or Museum Studies program. Please submit a resume, a cover letter, a reference letter from at least one instructor, and a list of classes already taken.

Deadline for applications December 2nd, 2013

Please send information or questions to trenholm@gilderlehrman.org<mailto:trenholm@gilderlehrman.org>

Alinda Borell, MLIS
Archivist
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Borell@gilderlehrman.org<mailto:mullusky@gilderlehrman.org>