HTY 597: Field Work in Historical Institutions
Course supervisor: Staff
Do you want real-world experience as part of your UMaine education?
Enroll in HTY 597 to intern at a local institution for History course credit
HTY 597 is a three-credit independent-study course titled “Field Work in Historical Institutions.” It is designed to allow motivated undergraduate and graduate students to gain real-world experience by volunteering in a local organization to deepen your understanding of how the skills developed through the historical discipline can play a vital role advancing the mission of a huge range of institutions such as museums, state agencies, historical societies, and just about any cultural organization. As an independent-study course there is a great deal of flexibility to adjust it to meet the particular needs of each individual student, organization, and faculty member.
How do I set-up a HTY 597 internship?
1) Contact the local organization with which you would like to volunteer. Find out if they have a project that you could contribute to in a meaningful way. For a three-credit course, you should expect to work on your project for about 9 hours a week over the course of a 15-week semester (about 100 total hours).
2) Contact a History Department faculty member to discuss if this is a viable project for an HTY 597 internship. The faculty member should have a related teaching field, visit faculty descriptions online (https://umaine.edu/history/faculty/) for more info. In many cases our historians of Maine, Mary Freeman, Micah Pawling and Liam Riordan (mary.t.freeman@maine.edu, micah.pawling@maine.edu, riordan@maine.edu), may be especially useful.
3) Draft a short contract/syllabus explaining the basic expectations for the internship. In most cases HTY 597 should include an informal written journal that describes the work performed on a weekly basis and a final paper (3-6 pp.) that explains the overall accomplishments of the course. The contract/syllabus must be signed by the student, a representative of the host institution, and a History faculty member who all agree to participate in the course.
You can create an internship at any institution that is willing to host you and that a faculty member agrees to oversee. The following places have expressed an interest in partnering with UMaine students for HTY 597 course credit. They might be the best places to start!
1) Bangor Museum and Center for History
Contact: Jennifer Pictou, Executive Director
Email: director@bangormuseum.org; Telephone: 942-1900
2) Bangor Public Library
Contact: Greta Schroeder, Local History and Special Collections Librarian
Email: greta.schroeder@bangorpubliclibrary.org; Telephone: 947-8336, ext. 106
3) Maine Folklife Center, UMaine, Orono
Contact: Professor Kreg Ettenger
Email: kreg.ettenger@maine.edu
4) Margaret Chase Smith Library, Skowhegan
Contact: David Richards, Executive Director
Email: davidr@mcslibrary.org; Telephone: 474-7133
5) Penobscot Maritime Museum, Searsport
Contact: Kevin Johnson, Photo Archivist
(207) 548-2529 ext. 210
http://www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
Email: kjohnson@pmm-maine.org
6) Penobscot Theatre, Bangor
Contact: Jasmine Ireland, Director of Education and Outreach
Email: jasmine@penobscottheatre.org; Telephone: 947-6618 ext. 104
7) Special Collections, Fogler Library, UMaine, Orono
Contact: Richard Hollinger, Head of Special Collections
Email: richard.hollinger@maine.edu ; Telephone: 581-1688
8) Cole Land Transportation Museum, https://www.colemuseum.org/
Contact: Jennifer Munson
Email: jmunson@colemuseum.org; Telephone: 207-990-3600