UK Libraries Special Collections Learning Lab Taking Interns

Click play on the audio file above to hear Undergraduate Research Archivist Carol Street and SCRC Learning Lab intern Dealla Samadi talk about the work being done by students in the lab on the Jan. 27 episode of "UK At the Half" with Carl Nathe.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 21, 2018) —​ University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center is offering undergraduates one-of-a-kind internship opportunities working with primary resources in the SCRC Learning Lab. Through this paid internship undergraduate students from all disciplines can receive training in archival methods while working with unprocessed or under-processed archival collections in their research area. Applications for fall and spring internships are due April 11, 2018.

The SCRC Learning Lab is a center of primary research, experiential learning, and training. Undergraduate students interning with the lab will learn how to arrange and describe rare or unique collections in their area of research interest, while enhancing access through the production of guides, exhibits or transcriptions. In addition to their training, at the end of their internship students will create and present a poster, presentation or exhibit, reflecting on the impact the position had on their research.

“Our undergraduates learn skills that we know are important to employers such as critical thinking, problem solving, communicating and working on a team,” said Interim Dean of UK Libraries Deirdre Scaggs. “The goal of the SCRC Learning Lab is to help our students become successful in whatever they do.”

Students interested in internships with the SCRC Learning Lab this year will have the opportunity to work with collections that span a wide range of interests:

• post-World War II refugee resettlement (Joseph P. D’Andrea Papers, 1940s-1990s)
• French Revolutionary War (Index to Revolutionary Biographies, 1789-1799)
• education, literacy and business (Harriet Drury Van Meter Papers, 1911-1991)
• photography, art and art history (Lexington Camera Club Papers, 1953-1975)
• law and early American history (Barnstable Colony Legal Papers, 1734-1741)
• agriculture and meteorology (Kentucky Tobacco Farmer’s Diary, 1870)
• literature, publishing and music (James Hines Collection, 1952-2008)
• urban planning, architecture and design (William H. Qualls Papers,1974-1997)
• religious studies (Jewish Notebook, circa 1810)
• poetry and literature (Paul Morand Papers, 1927)
• social justice, women’s studies and health care (Kate Black Social Activism Papers, 1980s-1990s)
• law and commerce (Kentucky Court Records, 1800-1823)
• early Arctic exploration, engineering and military history (Harry Ross Papers, 1918-1958)
• medicine and Civil War history (Young and Wooten Family Papers, 1856-1989)
• agriculture, biology, botany and landscape architecture (Seed Catalogs, 1890-1970)

More information about these collections can be found on the Learning Lab website.

Interns will be expected to work five to 10 hours a week and will receive $8.80 per hour.

To apply for the SCRC Learning Lab internship, undergraduates should complete the internship application on the Learning Lab website. The application, a resume/CV, and one faculty reference should then be submitted by mail or email Wednesday, April 11. To submit by mail, send internship packets to:

Carol Street

Undergraduate Research Archivist, UK Libraries

Margaret I. King Library Building

Lexington, KY, 40506-0039

To email an internship packet, send to carolstreet@uky.edu.

The SCRC at UK Libraries sustains the Commonwealth’s memory and serves as the essential bridge between past, present and future. By preserving materials documenting the social, cultural, economic and political history of Kentucky, the SCRC provides rich opportunities for students to expand their worldview and enhance their critical thinking skills. SCRC materials are used by scholars worldwide to advance original research and pioneer creative approaches to scholarship. UK Libraries SCRC is the Archives, the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, the King Library Press, the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center, the Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection, the John G. Heyburn Initiative and ExploreUK.