The Spring Archival Internship program at The People's Archive offers students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs the opportunity to gain professional experience in archival processing and preservation, digitization, and collection management.
Background
The People's Archive at the DC Public Library is the Library's local history center and is made up of the Washingtoniana Collection, the Black Studies Collection, and the Peabody Room at the Georgetown Neighborhood Library. Our mission is to connect you to unique resources that illustrate the District of Columbia's local history and culture. We are a home of discovery, where diverse stories - past and present - are preserved and amplified.
The District of Columbia Public Library is dedicated to providing environments that invite reading, learning and community discussion, and opportunities for lifelong learning. The library system includes 25 neighborhood libraries and the central library, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library.
Internship Timeline
The Internship will take place over 10 weeks, totaling 200 hours, between February 2 and April 17, 2026, and is a part time position at 20 hours a week. All processing work will take place in person at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Washington, DC. Hours are flexible but must occur between the hours of 9am and 7pm, Monday through Friday.
Internship Duties
Supervised by the Archivist, the intern will:
- Arrange, preserve, and describe the physical materials in the collection.
- Prepare all collection level data, including box and folder inventories.
- With assistance, upload the finding aid data to the library's Archives Space account
- Select, digitize, and create item level metadata for a portion of the collection.
- Shadow and/or work with a member of the Digital Creation staff to upload digitized materials to the Library's digital archive, DigDC
The project will require the intern to learn and use a number of databases and software and adhere to archival best practices. In addition to the processing work, intern work may also involve climbing ladders, lifting boxes of 50 lbs, cleaning shelves, and other physically demanding tasks. Accommodations for physical tasks will be considered as needed.
Compensation
A $6,000 stipend will be provided.
Application Requirements
All applications must be saved in a single PDF and should contain the following:
1. A letter of interest/cover letter
2. Resume
3. 2-3 professional references
The single PDF should be emailed to peoples.archive@dc.gov, with the subject line "2026 Spring Internship + [Your Last Name]."
Deadline
Friday, January 2, 2026 at 5 p.m.
Qualifications
Applicants should possess the following qualifications:
- Graduate studies students and prior experience in processing archival materials strongly preferred.
- Undergraduate degree or expected degree in history, material culture, education, humanities, museum studies, museum education, anthropology or related field.
- Demonstrated interest in libraries, archives, museums, exhibits, education, and/or history.
- Strong writing, research, organizational, interpersonal, communication and computer skills
- Ability to work both independently and in groups.
Applicants must successfully complete a background check.
