Library and Museum Archives Intern

Saint Louis Art Museum • St. Louis, MO

20d

About The Position

Join a community of interns to gain professional skills and learn about museum practice. The paid internships at the Saint Louis Art Museum offer opportunities to gain first-hand experience working in a major art museum. The Museum is home to a collection of over 38,000 works of art from six continents, dating from ancient times to the present. Over the course of the summer program, interns will have opportunities to learn more about the Museum’s collections through curatorial tours and participate in tours of local collections and institutions. In addition, they will participate in tours of the conservation facilities, weekly brownbag lunches with department and division heads, and a meeting with the Museum’s director. At the culmination of the internship term, interns will present on an aspect of their department's project and/or their professional achievements.
Library and Museum Archives Internship
Richardson Memorial Library will offer one internship in 2026. The library internship project provides practical experience in cataloging and processing select materials from library and archival collections. This internship will split time across cataloging and archival areas. Primary activities will include:
Rehousing historic institutional records and cataloging a range of significant art resources.
Creating finding aids and catalog records to enhance discovery and access.
Gaining a basic understanding of fine arts copy cataloging and working knowledge of cataloging tools.
Expanding knowledge of art history and museum history within an encyclopedic art museum’s research library environment.

Requirements

• Students must be enrolled in an ALA-accredited graduate-level program in Library/Information Science or a comparably accredited Archives Studies Program or Related Field.
• Cover letter, indicating the candidate’s professional goals and reasons for seeking this internship. Please describe aspects of your past academic and/or job experience that you feel are most relevant to this application and how they have prepared you to undertake the tasks associated with the Library and Museum Archives internship.
• Resumé or CV, indicating academic background and work experience (volunteer and paid work)
• Transcripts (unofficial transcripts are acceptable)
• References: name, title, affiliation, and full contact information (letters of reference not required; at least 2 references must be a professor or academic advisor; 1 can be a personal or nonacademic professional reference)
• Writing sample which can include—but is not limited to—an academic paper or essay related to archival collections or metadata projects, blog post demonstrating original research and writing skills, or an archival finding aid that includes scope and content notes.

Responsibilities

• Rehousing historic institutional records and cataloging a range of significant art resources.
• Creating finding aids and catalog records to enhance discovery and access.
• Gaining a basic understanding of fine arts copy cataloging and working knowledge of cataloging tools.
• Expanding knowledge of art history and museum history within an encyclopedic art museum’s research library environment.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern
• Number of Employees: 101-250 employees