MAPH Internships: The Newberry Library

The Newberry Library

Located near Gold Coast, the Newberry Library is an independent, privately operated research library that focuses on the humanities.  It is free and open to the public.  Founded after the death of Chicago patron Walter Newberry (opened in 1887), the library has a large variety of special collections materials that focus on European and American letters and history.  According to its mission statement, the Newberry promotes and provides for the effective use of their special collections materials, fostering research, teaching, publication, life-long learning, and civic engagement.

Oh heavens, what a delightful garden for luncheon!

(Read the profile…after the jump)

The Newberry Library Reading Room, 1894

This is a ten-week internship position. You’d be reporting to the Lloyd Lewis Curator of Modern Manuscripts and the Senior Project Archivist, working with archivists on an NEH-funded processing project. As the “Manuscripts and Archives Intern,” you would participate in the preservation, arrangement, re-housing, and description of the records of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. Dating from 1847 to 1965, the firm’s archives record more than 100 years of Midwestern, Great Plains, and Mountain States history. The CB&Q collection is a vital resource for an array of topics including labor history, rural history, environmental history, immigration history, gender history, the history of travel and tourism, geography and cartography, the history of photography, and the history of advertising and design.

According to students who have held this internship in the past, it’s incredibly hands-on. Past interns have had the chance to sort and catalogue large collections of material (letters, poems, old playbills, photographs, etc.) . MAPH interns have been given the chance to be incredibly creative and to take on a lot of responsibility working with the archives.

Take a stand against deaccessioning.