Elizabeth M. Gordon Content Cluster Summer Internship for Graduate Students

The Frick Collection • New York, NY

4h • $26 • Onsite

About The Position

Internationally recognized as a premier museum and research center, the Frick is known for its distinguished Old Master paintings and outstanding examples of European sculpture and decorative arts.

The collection originated with Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919), who bequeathed his home, paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts to the public for their enjoyment. The institution’s holdings—which encompass masterworks from the Renaissance through the nineteenth century—have grown over the decades, more than doubling in size since the opening of the museum in 1935. A critical component of the institution is the Frick Art Research Library, founded in 1920 by Helen Clay Frick, daughter of the museum’s founder. Recognized as one of the world’s top art history research centers, it has served students, scholars, and members of the public free of charge for generations.

The Frick has undergone a comprehensive renovation and was open in a temporary home, Frick Madison, from 2020 through early 2024, while renovations were underway at the mansion on 70th Street. In addition to special exhibition galleries and education spaces, we have added enhanced visitor amenities and accessible spaces. The Museum and Art Research Library reopened to the public in April 2025

At the Frick Collection, we pride ourselves on promoting an open and welcoming workplace culture that supports work-life balance. The Frick strives to provide our employees with competitive salaries and exceptional benefits in a beautiful and pleasant work setting, while offering an excellent opportunity to appreciate some of the world’s finest works of art.

The Frick Collection provides equal opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to personal characteristics such as race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, pregnancy, genetic information, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, marital and civil partnership/union status, alienage or citizenship status, creed, genetic predisposition or carrier status, unemployment status, familial status, domestic violence, sexual violence or stalking victim status, caregiver status, or other characteristics protected by law. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

The Frick Art Research Library’s Content Cluster includes Acquisitions, Digital Art History, Metadata, Photo archive, and Web Archiving. The intern will build their art historical knowledge through hands-on projects involving the collections of a leading research institute dedicated to the study of fine and decorative arts from the fourth to the mid-twentieth century. The intern will have the opportunity to work closely with cluster Leads and participate in department meetings, webinars, intern events, and other professional development programming for libraries and museums. The scope of intern projects may include, but are not limited to:

Process and accession a gift of books and other material
Special collections cataloging and provenance research
Contribute to Wikidata projects to enhance discoverability of collection resources
Create and modify datasets for digital projects

Requirements

• Content Cluster internships are open to qualified graduate students in art history, library science, and archival studies.
• Required skills include data entry, attention to detail, ability to work independently, good time management, research, and organizational skills.
• Coursework in art history preferred.
• Familiarity with library cataloging standards, geographic mapping, computer visualizations, and digital humanities tools desirable.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with library cataloging standards
• geographic mapping
• computer visualizations
• digital humanities tools desirable.

Responsibilities

• Process and accession a gift of books and other material
• Special collections cataloging and provenance research
• Contribute to Wikidata projects to enhance discoverability of collection resources
• Create and modify datasets for digital projects

Benefits

• Part-time employees and interns accrue sick leave up to 56 hours/year in accordance with the New York City Earned Sick Time Act.
• Paid Holidays: part-time employees and interns receive paid time-off when they would normally be scheduled to work on holidays The Frick is closed to the public. These include New Year's Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Martin Luther King Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
• Wellness Programs at the Frick include an Employee Assistance Plan, a discount on Citi Bike memberships and a discount on bike helmets.
• Transit benefit: all interns receive a monthly transit debit card valued at $132.00 for the month(s) they are working at The Frick.
• Dining And Museum Shop Discounts: The Frick maintains a Seamless/GrubHub Corporate Account for all in-office food ordering. Employees working on-site may access an $8/day discount toward meal delivery from Seamless. This benefit is per employee per shift and is not transferable. All employees may access a discount in the Frick Museum Shop and the coffee bar in the Museum.
• Interns who are assigned to work in person for the duration of their internship will receive at $1,500.00 onboarding stipend, on or before their first day of work.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Part-time
• Career Level: Intern