Historical Interpretation Internship

Historical Interpretation Internship (costumed positions)

Interested in a career in museums, education, or business? Be a part of New England’s largest outdoor history museum! Old Sturbridge Village has a long tradition of offering hands-on learning experiences through its summer internship program, designed to provide college students and recent graduates with practical knowledge and job experience throughout many departments of Old Sturbridge Village.

All interns will participate in introductory training, be assigned a supervisor/mentor specific to their area of focus, participate in weekly professional development seminars and occasional field studies (structured field trips) with other interns, and complete a project they will present to their peers and Village staff at the end of the summer.

Old Sturbridge Village is committed to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. We are passionate about developing and maintaining an inclusive, equitable and accessible working and learning environments for all visitors, staff and OSV community members. We believe every member of our team enriches our diversity by exposing us to different ways of understanding and engaging the world around us.

Old Sturbridge is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is the policy of Old Sturbridge Village to provide equal employment opportunity to all qualified persons without regard to race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or membership in the uniformed services.

Historical Interpretation Internship (costumed positions)

At Old Sturbridge Village, a Historical Interpreter engages and educates our visitors. Interpreters use historic clothing, structures, plants, animals, and landscapes as well as the tools and techniques of early trades, agriculture, horticulture, and domestic crafts to make meaningful connections with the present. Interpreters help visitors gain insights into their modern world and a better understanding of it by conveying aspects of its origins in early 19th-century rural New England.

All Historical Interpretation interns will be provided with general training in life in rural New England in the 1830s and in the locations to which they’ll be assigned as well as in visitor engagement and customer service.

Depending on the museum’s needs, Historical Interpretation interns will have the opportunity to work in various trades and occupations, such as farming, dairying, blacksmithing, gardening, hearth cooking, shoe making, sewing, pottery, portraying a school keeper, and more. Each Historical Interpretation intern will be assigned one primary and one secondary work location within the Village (see https://www.osv.org/explore-the-village/historical-buildings-landscapes-and-gardens/ to explore possible work locations). Applicants for Historical Interpretation internships will be asked to describe their interest in specific types of trades and occupations. Please read the descriptions below for more information on these options.

In addition to working in their primary and secondary locations, each Historical Interpretation intern will complete a research or historic craft project related to their primary location. Interns will work with their supervisors and the Coordinator of Internships to identify their project. Each intern will present their work at the end of the summer.

Please check with your school to see if you’re eligible for academic credit. Summer interns receive a stipend. Interested applicants must submit a written application and are interviewed by phone or video conference.

Hours:

The internship is available during the 10-week summer session. The workday is from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm; occasionally, Agriculture interns will work outside of these hours depending on the needs of the farm. Generally, Historical Interpretation interns work on days the museum is open (Wednesday-Sunday). Schedules will be established with the intern’s supervisor and the Interpretation Department’s scheduler.

Types of Trades and Occupations

Each type of trade and occupation is interpreted in more than one location around the Village. Each Historical Interpretation intern will be assigned one primary and one secondary location in which they will spend most of their time. Please note that the primary and secondary locations may reflect two different types of trades and occupations.

Agriculture

Agriculture interns gain direct hands-on experience with an educational agriculture program. The intern will work under the supervision of the museum’s Coordinator of Agriculture to develop new and expand existing programs including sustainable agriculture, heritage breed animals, and heirloom crops.

Interns’ work in Agriculture will include daily animal chores (feeding, watering, and cleaning) and field work (haying, cultivating crops, fence repair, and small grain harvesting). Interns must be comfortable working outside in all weather conditions and working around large animals. Interns must be able to regularly lift up to 50 lbs. and occasionally lift up to 75 lbs.

Civics and Religion

Civics and Religion interns interpret community-based engagement in government, religion, and contemporary organizations that focused on issues such as temperance, anti-slavery, educational reform, and law. Interns will participate in the annual Independence Day Readers’ Theatre, and working with the Supervisor, will research relevant topics to develop programming for visitors.

Musical Performance

Musical Performance interns focus on interpreting historic music through structured performances. These performances aim to educate the public on specific aspects of rural New England music trends, for instance, a talk and demonstration of tavern music, sacred music, or protest music. Music interns would be expected to build a repertoire of talks and music to fit.

Musical Performance interns spend time between their scheduled performances interpreting households or studying new repertoire as necessary.

Gardens (Paul and Barbara Rogers Horticulture Internship)

A major component of OSV’s mission is its commitment to showing horticulture and the importance of gardens in 19th-century life. Working as a historic gardener will entail using all aspects of the Museum’s multiple gardens as educational tools to make meaningful connections with our visitors.

19th-century gardening includes bed preparation, sowing seed, thinning, pest management, weeding, watering, harvesting, and seed saving (of both vegetables and flowers). This will involve working in costume using 19th-century techniques. Interns must be comfortable working outside in all weather conditions.

Households

Household interns gain skills in daily operation of a domestic space, as well as work that could be done in a home to help support a family economically. Each house at OSV offers different opportunities for interpretation. Depending on their location, Household interns might make cheese, prepare food at an open hearth, demonstrate historic sewing or mending techniques, dye wool, or weave straw or baskets.

Trades

Trades interns focus on the interpretation and use of tools and equipment to produce goods for sale or exchange. Interns will receive training specific to the trade of their assigned location. Please note that while each Trades intern will develop their skills over the course of the internship, they should not expect to become an expert in ten weeks.

Trades interns might focus on woodworking (Cabinetmaking Shop, Cooper Shop), metalwork (Blacksmith Shop, Tin Shop), printing and bookbinding, shoemaking, pottery, or the operation of water-powered mills (Sawmill, Gristmill, Carding Mill).

General Information

• Applicants must have completed at least one year of college before the start of the internship.
• Stipends of $2,000 are available for up to 20 summer interns.
• Internships are available during a 10-week summer session. All internships will begin on Monday, June 2, 2025. Historical Interpretation internships end Sunday, August 10, 2025; all other internships end Friday, August 8, 2025. Interns work approximately 40 hours per week; see the Hours section in each internship description for more information on typical work schedules.
• Interns will participate in weekly professional development seminars and several field seminars (structured field trips) to other area museums over the summer.
• Transportation to and from Old Sturbridge Village is not provided. Limited on-site housing is available. Please indicate in the application form whether you will need housing to participate in the internship program.

Application Process

Application materials:

• Each applicant must submit an online application form which can be located on the Old Sturbridge Village website (College Internships - Old Sturbridge Village)
• Respond to a few free-response questions.
• Each applicant must upload a current resume.
• Letters of recommendation are not required as part of the application. Finalists for internship positions will be asked to provide contact information for two references (professor/teacher or work supervisor).

Timeline:

• Review of applications will begin on Monday, March 17, 2025. Preference will be given to applications received by this date.
• Internship program staff will review all applications. Leading candidates will be invited to participate in a phone or video conference interview in late March.
• Finalists for internship positions will be asked to provide contact information for two references (professor/teacher or work supervisor).
• Internship descriptions will be updated as positions are filled.

Questions: Email interns@osv.org