2021 Summer Internships, Mercer Museum & Fonthill Castle, Bucks County Historical Society

The Summer Internship Program at the Mercer Museum & Fonthill Castle, or Experiential Learning Academy sponsored by BLBB Charitable, allows a dynamic group of students with
varied interests, strengths, and goals to immerse themselves in an outstanding educational and professional environment.

Interns learn and work directly with museum professionals in a team-based, collaborative environment that offers experiential learning, mentoring benefits, and leadership building skills.

Background:

Located in Doylestown, Bucks County, PA, the Mercer Museum and Fonthill Castle are historic castles celebrating the legacy of Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930), American
archaeologist, anthropologist, ceramicist and scholar. Both sites are operated by the Bucks County Historical Society.

The Mercer Museum, one of Bucks County’s premier cultural attractions and a Smithsonian affiliate, features both local and national seasonal exhibits as well as a core museum collection of over 50,000 pre-Industrial tools. This permanent collection offers visitors a unique window into pre-Industrial America through sixty different crafts and trades, and is one of the world’s most comprehensive portraits of American material culture. The museum also features a research library that is a center for local history related to Bucks County and the surrounding region, with its roots dating back to the founding of the Bucks County Historical Society in 1880.

Fonthill Castle was built between 1908-1912, and was the home of Henry Chapman Mercer. Mercer built Fonthill Castle as his home and as a showplace for his collection of tiles and prints. The castle serves as an early example of reinforced concrete and features forty-four rooms, over two hundred windows, and eighteen fireplaces. Fonthill Castle’s interior features Mercer’s renowned, hand crafted ceramic tiles designed at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Internship Timeline: The internship takes place from Monday, June 7, 2021 until Friday, August 13, 2021, and is a full-time position at 40 hours per week.

The Bucks County Historical Society follows all state and local safety guidelines for COVID-19, and recognizes that the overall situation remains fluid and is subject to change.

Our preference is to host our 2021 summer interns in person at our locations for the duration of the internship. We will monitor local conditions closely and relay any changes to in-person internships as the summer season draws nearer and should there be a need to move to a virtual internship experience.

Intern Compensation: $3,000, disbursed in three installments throughout the summer

Application Requirements:

Please select your internship area of interest, in order of preference, and list your preference order in your email and cover letter:

? Education & Community Services
? Archives
? Exhibit Research

All applications must be saved and sent as a single PDF and should contain the following:

? A letter of interest / cover letter
? A résumé
? A list of 2-3 professional references

Please email the above application requirements to info@mercermuseum.org, with the subject line “2021 Summer Internship + [Your Last Name]”.

Deadline: Friday, February 12, 2021 at 5pm

All applicants should possess the following required qualifications (as well as others mentioned in the individual intern categories below):

? Degree or expected degree in history, material culture, education, humanities, museum studies,
museum education, anthropology or a related field. Graduate studies students strongly
preferred.
? Demonstrated interest in museums, exhibits, programs, production, education, and history
? Strong writing, research, organizational, interpersonal, communication and computer skills
? Ability to work both independently and in groups
? Affinity for working with the public and helping with other duties as assigned
? Sense of humor and positive attitude

The position of Education & Community Services Intern specializes in facilitating innovative, informal learning opportunities for museum guests of all ages at Mercer Museum & Fonthill Castle.

The intern will participate in the production and execution of educational activities and/or materials to promote formal and informal learning for the Department of Community Services. This involves working with a wide array of guests (museum members and program participants of all ages) in varied capacities. In addition, the intern will work closely with other museum staff and assist with public and special programs and the overall daily guest operations of the department as needed.

Each intern will be trained to facilitate educational programs, activities, demonstrations, and family-oriented events for guests, possibly including summer camps, children’s programs, and/or virtual offerings, based on local COVID-19 conditions.

The intern will facilitate summer community or special programs and/or virtual offerings with colleagues in the department as needed.

During the course of the internship, interns may be given the opportunity to explore an individual focus area assigned by their supervisor based on organizational need and the skills and interests of the individual.

Archives Intern:

The 2021 Archives Intern will assist with the inventory and re-housing of a collection of some 25,000 large format photographic negatives. These images were taken by
Levittown, Bucks County photographer Gene Asro between the years 1962 and 1994. Asro’s photos portray political and social gatherings, entertainment venues, clubs and organizations, sporting events, roadside architecture, and many other scenes of everyday life in Levittown during its early and developmental years.

Supervised by the Historical Society’s Library & Archives Manager, the intern will transcribe the photographer’s original card file entries and indices, rehouse the negatives in appropriate enclosures, and begin research for the production of a finding aid. The project will require that the intern learns the Library’s collections database, and adheres to contemporary archival best practices. The ideal candidate is a student pursuing an advanced degree in library and archival management, or related field. In addition to processing and re-housing, work may also involve climbing ladders, lifting 50 lb. boxes or other objects, cleaning shelves, and other physically demanding tasks.

Exhibits Intern:

The 2021 Exhibit Research Intern will support the development of a planned 2022 exhibition related to the history and present-day practice of farming in Bucks County. This exhibit will explore the many ways that Bucks County farmers and growers have invented, innovated and adapted to sustain themselves and produce food for local, regional and global markets, from the early 1800s to the present. A significant component of the exhibit will focus on contemporary agricultural practice, and on how area farmers today work to meet contemporary concerns for profitability, sustainability, and locally-centered markets.

To enrich the exhibit’s content, the intern will focus on conducting and transcribing a series of oral history interviews. The subjects will include long-time farmers, growers, and laborers, as well as others connected with the practice, promotion and preservation of local agriculture. The intern will work closely with the Curator of Exhibits and Vice-President of Collections and Interpretation to identify subjects, and to schedule, conduct and transcribe the interviews. The intern will also participate in exhibit team meetings and discussions. The ideal candidate is a student pursuing an advanced degree in public history, museum studies, folklore/folklife studies, or related discipline, and who possesses some academic training or experience in conducting oral histories.

(Posted 1/15)