The Morgan Library & Museum welcomes applications for its 2026 paid summer internship program. The program will provide an introduction to the variety of career opportunities available in museums and special collection libraries. Each intern will be assigned to a department relevant to their interest and work with departmental staff on timely topics in that area. Interns will also have the opportunity to learn about the Morgan, and the museum and special collection fields more generally, through professional development opportunities such as facility tours and meetings with museum leadership. The Morgan especially seeks to provide opportunities to candidates with experiences and perspectives that have not been adequately reflected in the museum and special collection libraries fields.
Internships are available in the following areas:
Collection Information
The Collection Information Department is looking for an intern interested in developing data skills by contributing to an ongoing project of inventorying and listing a large print collection. Working with items in hand, tasks include matching descriptive records to items in the collection, creating records in CORSAIR, the Morgan's collections database, and generating thumbnails for each print. The intern will learn about the data structure of the Morgan's collection descriptions, and, depending on skills, will be invited to contribute to designing user-friendly access to this large collection. Working under the supervision of the Director of Collection Information and instructed by members of the Department, the intern will participate in the day-to-day activities of collection information specialists and in the larger institutional life of the Morgan. The intern is also expected to contribute to any and all data projects that become a priority for the Department during the period of the internship.
Communications and Marketing
The Communications and Marketing summer intern will help to support the development of communications strategies for select exhibitions and programs. Working closely with the Communications and Marketing team, the intern will help create exhibition-specific communications plans, including identifying target audiences and appropriate channels; conduct research into community outreach opportunities, helping identify local partners, organizations, and audiences to support broader engagement goals; and help gather social media content for the Morgan's social media platforms. This internship offers hands-on experience in strategic communications, audience development, and community-focused marketing within a museum setting.
Imaging and Rights
This internship offers a unique opportunity to gain experience in Imaging and Rights. The department provides access to the Morgan’s rare collections via digital surrogates and clears rights and permissions for various uses. The successful candidate will assist with an inventory of analogue image assets and paper files, in addition to assisting with preparing images for use in Morgan publications and exhibition- related projects such as press and publicity, audio guides, and Morgan Shop uses, organizing images and tracking spreadsheets, assisting with print color proofing, and maintaining image and copyright credits. The intern will also update descriptive metadata in image files and will ingest these prepared image files into the Morgan digital asset management system (DAM). This requires accessing databases, embedding metadata into image files, and, after DAM ingest, reviewing, revising, and correcting data when necessary.
Modern & Contemporary Drawings
The Department of Modern and Contemporary Drawings at The Morgan Library & Museum seeks an intern to work directly with and be mentored by the curatorial team. The intern’s responsibilities will include identifying collection items that need imaging, adding images to artist files, ongoing collection research in libraries and archives, writing short descriptions and wall labels, as well as conducting upcoming exhibition research. The candidate should have knowledge of and interest in modern and contemporary art and be available to work four days per week.
Photography
The Photography department seeks an intern to collect, research, enter, and fact-check object and provenance information on works in the photography collection. The intern's tasks will include organizing records for incoming photographs and reviewing records from throughout the history of the department. The goal in both cases is consistency and accuracy, which will entail checking records against original objects. This project is most suitable for an intern with strong interest in the history of photography and in the registrarial side of curatorial work.
The Sherman Fairchild Reading Room
The Sherman Fairchild Reading Room seeks an intern that will be an active member of the Reading Room team. The successful candidate will experience invigilating rare material, conduct preliminary research for readers and retrieve material from our Reference Collection. They will be supervised and mentored by the Head of Reader Services. Intern tasks will include but are not limited to sorting, paging, and reshelving reference books and other secondary source materials, including microfilms and internal files, as well as inputting and updating electronic records. The intern will also work on other library projects and miscellaneous office tasks related to statistical gathering and processing. The intern will work primarily in the Sherman Fairchild Reading Room. Candidates must be committed to working 28 hours per week.
Eligibility
- Current enrollment as an undergraduate or graduate student.
- Strong interest in a career in the museum or library field.
- Eligibility to work in the United States (international candidates must be eligible to participate in a paid internship program in the United States).
- Strong verbal and written communication skills.
$19 per hour.
Summer internships are onsite at the Morgan, with interns generally working up to 28 hours per week for up to 12 weeks, beginning at the end of May and running through mid to late August.
Interns will be selected on a competitive basis via an application process. The deadline to apply for an internship is April 12, 2026.
- A cover letter describing your interest in the internship you are applying for. The cover letter should also include a statement about your interest in the museum or library field, and your future aspirations
- Any other information that you would like to provide regarding your candidacy for a Morgan summer internship
- Your resume
- The names and contact information of two references (please include the person’s name, title, organization, telephone number, and email address)
Please note that applications received without all the requested information, including a cover letter, will not be considered. Candidates selected for interviews will be contacted before April 30, 2026, with notification of the decision following soon thereafter. No phone calls, please.