Internships / Fellowships

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Internships

Interns typically participate in all or some of following activities designed to provide hands on experience with typical duties and functions performed in an archival setting: 

Archival Processing Projects

Organization and description of archival collections in accordance with current standards. To include physical organization and rehousing of records, and creation of descriptive tools to faciliate user access to resources.   

Digitization work

Digitization of materials from archival holdings. Creation or editing of metadata associated with these resources.

Reference Duties

Assisting program staff in responses to reference inquiries, including research in the Center’s archival collections, document retrieval, photocopying, answering phone requests, letters and email.    

Collection Management Duties

Assisting archivist in daily management duties, including accessioning collections, inventory, preservation tasks, appraisal of existing collection documentation and other duties as needed.   

Exhibits and Outreach

Assisting the archivist and program staff in activities including exhibit work, preparation for tours and other outreach events.   

Other projects as assigned

Students with special skills or interests will be assigned to collections which best utilize their experience.  For example students interested in cartographic records may catalog or re-house map collections.  Other students may catalog or transcribe oral history interviews, or assist in background research associated with grant proposals, programming, publications, exhibits or other projects as needed.  

Please note that internship opportunities are limited, and are typically awarded to students with specific training or skills relevant to archival work. Please contact Heritage Resources for more information. 

 

Fellowships

James W. Scott Regional Research Fellowships

Western Washington University’s Center for Pacific Northwest Studies offers two annual James W. Scott Regional Research Fellowships, established to promote awareness and use of archival collections at Western and to forward scholarly understandings of the Pacific Northwest. The fellowships are awarded in honor of the late Dr. James W. (Jim) Scott, a founder and first Director of the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, and a noted scholar of the Pacific Northwest region. The Center for Pacific Northwest Studies is a program of Western Libraries' Heritage Resources, located in the Goltz-Murray Archives Building. 

About the Fellowships

Two awards of $500 each will be granted annually to scholars who propose to undertake significant research using archival holdings at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies (CPNWS):

  1. An award to a junior scholar (those in graduate programs or who have finished the Ph.D. within the last two years and/or are relatively new to the field of historical research and writing).
  2. An award to a senior scholar (generally published authors or those more than three years out from the Ph.D.).

Fellowship Requirements  [2013-2014 requirements to be announced shortly]

  • Fellows will be expected to spend approximately a week examining CPNWS holdings in support of their research. Additional information about CPNWS collections is available at:  http://library.wwu.edu/cpnws
  • Fellows will be asked to give a presentation about some aspect of their research during the course of their scheduled visit. The audience will vary depending on the time of the year, but may include members of the general public as well as area students, faculty and staff.
  • After their residency, Fellows must submit a brief (300-500 word) written statement describing their research and use of CPNWS holdings to support scholarly understandings of the Pacific Northwest. This statement may be quoted from and/or otherwise published by Western Washington University.

Applications

  • Applications may be submitted via mail or electronically and should include:
  • Cover letter
  • Research plan outlining on-site use of CPNWS holdings and proposed presentation topic.
  • Curriculum vitae.
  • Two letters of recommendation.
  • Please mark applications “Scott Research Fellowship Application” and submit either by email to Ruth.Steele@wwu.edu or by mail to Ruth Steele, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA 98225-9123.
  • Application deadline for 2013-2014 will be announced shortly. If there are insufficient applications in both fellowship categories, two awards may be granted in the same category.
  • Funds will be awarded after a Fellow(s) has conducted her/his research at CPNWS and submitted the written statement. 

2012-2013 Fellows 

The Senior Fellow for 2012-13 is Dr. Polly Myers. Dr. Myers is a History Instructor at Western Washington University. She is presently conducting research about the employment of women at the Boeing Company in the postwar period, and has a secondary project examining women’s roles in anti-nuclear protest in the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Myers was in residence during Fall 2012, and will deliver a presentation on the topic of anti-nuclear protest on June 11, 2013 at Fairhaven's Village Books (12 noon).

The Junior Fellowship has been awarded to Dr. Mary Erickson, an Instructor in the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. Dr. Erickson is expected to be in residence on Western's campus in Summer 2013, and will pursue research about the history of audio-visual media production in the Pacific Northwest.

Past Recipients

Lissa K. Wadewitz