Summer 2022 History Research Internships

African American Studies and Research Center Undergraduate Summer Research Internship

Benefits: $5,000 stipend, housing allowance, and summer tuition scholarship

The African American Studies and Research Center (AASRC) and Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) are currently recruiting Purdue students for a new summer research initiative in Black Studies. The “African American Studies and Research Center Undergraduate Summer Research Internship” is a 6-8 week program that places up to 5 students into paid internships with the Indiana Historical Society (IHS) in Indianapolis, IN. Students will work with staff professionals there to explore, process, and organize the museum’s expanding collection of manuscripts detailing all facets of black life and history in the city and state and help transform these and other artifacts into digital content. Students will also use these collections, most of which have not been previously available to the public, and digital exhibits to produce their own independent research projects that they will present at conferences on and off-campus in the following Fall and Spring semesters.

Students interested in this program may submit applications for multiple available projects. The program supervisors will meet with candidates to discuss specific project specifics and extend offers. Students selected for the internship will earn a $5,000 stipend, housing allowance, and summer tuition scholarship.

The review of applications will begin May 9, 2022.

Research interns in collections will work with Indiana Historical Society staff professionals to process raw manuscript collections never before seen by the public. This will involve writing biographical or informational sketches for key subjects or items in the collections, writing content sketches collection folders, organizing photographs and other artifacts in the collection, and writing the collection guide that researchers and others will use to understand what the collection contains. Collections students will process include:  the papers of Edwin Gibson, the first African American architect licensed in Indiana under the state’s current system of licensure; Henry S. Bundles, father of A’Lelia Bundles (great, great, granddaughter of Madam C. J. Walker) and executive with the Center for Leadership Development; Andrew Bo Foster, African American entrepreneur and hotel owner in Indianapolis; and William Spears, community activists associated with black neighborhoods of Lockfield Gardens and Ransom Place.

Link to Apply through OURConnect

Research interns in exhibits will work with Indiana Historical Society (IHS) staff professionals to expand the museum’s digital platform on black history in Indiana, “Groundbreaking Black Hoosiers.” Students will conduct background research using the repository’s manuscript collection to develop new content for existing digital exhibits as well as propose and create entirely new ones, write new content for exhibits, research and obtain permissions for photographs and other materials potentially covered by copyright restrictions; exhibit interns will also learn to use IHS’s web design software and develop and execute design layouts to help build out the museum’s digital platform.

Link to Apply through OURConnect