2025-2026 Academic Year Internships, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA)

Posted April 3, 2025

Job Descriptions:

Archives

The Archives graduate student intern (average of 10 hours/week for both semesters September-December and February-May) will perform primary source research in the museum’s archival collections to develop a timeline for the museum’s exhibitions from 1895 to 1950, compiling accurate dates, alternate titles, contributors, and related material. Additional key activities will include archival cataloging in both The Museum System (TMS) and ArchivesSpace as well as select digitization of materials to make this institutional history publicly accessible. If time permits the intern may also assist in developing
programming or other outreach based on the project work.

This internship is open to both Harvard and non-Harvard graduate students with demonstrated experience and/or strong interest in museum archives and archival work. Art history background is useful but not required. The internship is an on-site position, located at the Harvard Art Museums Archives in the Somerville Research Facility. Compensation for this position is set at $25 per hour. For further information or to apply, please contact Megan Schwenke, Senior Archivist/Records Manager:
[email protected].

Visitor Services

The Visitor Data and Evaluation intern (average of 20 hours/week for both semesters from September- December and February-May) will collaborate with the Director of Visitor Services to gather, analyze, and visualize data through in-person surveys and interviews during the museum’s peak times. These studies will be focused on assessing visitors’ demographics, experiences, and outcomes related to exhibitions or program interactions. The gathered information is crucial for enhancing our understanding of visitor engagement and experience. This position provides an opportunity to learn about the museum’s daily operations while developing valuable professional skills such as customer service and public speaking.

This internship is open to Harvard and non-Harvard graduate and undergraduate students with customer services skills and is comfortable engaging with a diverse public and executing surveys. Proficiency in Excel or other data management software is required. While the weekly schedule may vary, the student intern must be able to work during the museum’s operating hours, including weekdays, evenings, and weekends. This internship is an on-site position, located at the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge. Compensation for this position is set at $25 per hour. For further information or to apply, please contact Sanja Kugat, Director of Visitor Services: [email protected].

Collections Management

Working within the Collection Management department, the Exhibition Design graduate student intern (average of 10 hours/week for both semesters from September—December and February—May) will support the development of the “Celtic” and “Ten Trails” upcoming gallery exhibitions by preparing floor plans, creating design development drawings, designing casework, and producing visual materials for presentation such as 3D gallery renderings. The intern may also be called upon to support the design of various ongoing Collection Gallery installations as needed. The Intern will assist in researching innovative approaches to exhibition design, casework design and didactic displays. The intern may also assist in creating paper mock-ups for case design, drawings or other visuals for presentation prior to installation and in the gallery during exhibition installation.

This internship is open to both Harvard and non-Harvard graduate students. Applicants must have prior experience with design software such as Vectorworks, Rhino, and Adobe Creative. Applicants should be detail-oriented, highly organized, and be able to balance multiple tasks simultaneously. Prior experience in a museum field is not required. Candidate should be able to provide examples of design work that demonstrates creative thinking and spatial visualization. This internship is an on-site position, located at the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge. Compensation for this position is set at $25 per hour. For further information or to apply, please contact Robert Checchi, Assistant Director for Exhibitions: [email protected].

Digital Infrastructure and Emerging Technology (DIET) & Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art

Computer Science or related fields graduate student (average of 20 hours/week for fall semester from September – December) will work with the Director of Digital Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies and the Damarete Associate Curator of Ancient Coins on the “Coins Recovery Project.” In December 1973, thousands of coins were stolen from the Coin Room at the Fogg Art Museum. A large portion (possibly as much as 80% according to some estimates) were recovered in several batches in the 1970s both through police work and private returns. With recent advances in technology—particularly crawler bots and image recognition using Artificial Intelligence—and the availability of online databases listing auctioned coins, the museums are attempting to recover some of the missing coins. This internship will build upon two already completed phases of the Coins Recovery Project. Phase 1, completed in summer 2024, consisted of building an inventory of the missing coins, including descriptions and images (when available). Phase 1, started in summer 2024, worked on testing image comparison and data enrichment techniques. The next phase, and responsibilities of this internship, require an advanced computer science student to tackle problems like image segmentation and statistical analysis, and weave everything together in an automatable, functional bot.

This internship is open to Harvard and non-Harvard graduate students in Computer Science or related fields. Required skills include practical experience in one or more of the following programming languages: Python, PHP, or NodeJS, and the following database systems: MySQL, Postgres. Compensation for this position is set at $40 per hour. For further information or to apply, please contact [email protected] and [email protected].

How to Apply:

Send a cover letter describing your interest in the internship and a curriculum vitae to the supervisor(s) listed in each section. Your cover letter should indicate what your student status will be in the Fall of 2025. Applications will be accepted until Friday, April 18, 2025.