Want to gain valuable skills and experience working in a museum? Apply for an internship at the National Postal Museum! Our interns are given the opportunity to work on a project of need to the museum and interest to them, while learning more about the field under the supervision of museum professional.
Staff from the Museum’s many different departments bring on interns when they have specific projects that require additional help. Interns interested in Collections Care, Programming and Interpretation, Research, Marketing, Design, and Library Sciences are all welcome to apply.
National Postal Museum Internships:
- Are offered year round. Received applications are distributed to the project supervisor approximately 2-3 months before the internship start date. Although applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, applicants should submit their material early to increase their chances of placement.
- Are appropriate for a wide variety of skill levels and interest areas.
- Are flexible in schedule. Placements may be full or part-time, remote, on-site, or hybrid. All internships include at least one afternoon per week for professional and personal development opportunities.
- Most offer a stipend, though the amount can vary. Stipends, which are meant to offset living expenses during the internship placement period, are paid on a bi-weekly basis.
Apply here: SOLAA
Questions or concerns? Contact the Internship Coordinator.
While the best thing for your application is indicating the type of project you are interested in, knowing which department would best serve your learning goals can help us send your application to the right staff members. Take a look at the department descriptions below for information and inspiration.
Collections Department
Collections department internships will focus on projects related to cataloging and preserving objects for storage or display in the museum galleries. Past projects include preparing stamp artwork for the Freedom exhibition and rehousing and digitizing the Post Master General's collection.
Curatorial Department
Curatorial internships focus on conducting research and writing about postal history or philatelic topics. Interns utilize the museum library and primary source materials (trips to the National Archives are not out of the ordinary) to research their concept, then showcase their findings to the public. Some projects have culminated with series of blog posts or informational webpages such as ZIP code promotional campaign, railway mail service, and women in the postal service.
Education and Visitor Services Department
Education or Visitor Services internships vary widely but are about educational programs and visitor services inside and outside the museum. Projects in the past include developing a story time program for young children, creating a pop-up cart to bring the museum outside, creating a series of self-guides for the museum, and implementing an accessibility tour for low-vision and blind visitors. This department interprets and makes accessible our museum content and works to improve the visitor experience in a variety of ways.
Exhibits Department
Exhibits internships focus on the design, installation and upkeep of Postal Museum exhibitions and galleries. One intern's project was the graphic design for the Collecting History exhibit.These projects will likely focus on upcoming exhibitions and availability will be very dependent on them.
Library
Library internships center around expanding and maintaining the museum library collection. Past projects include arranging the Small Journals collection, shifting monographs to make room for new acquisitions, and improving the library website.
