Application Instructions: A complete application includes

The American Philosophical Society (APS) Museum seeks an intern whose interests include cultural history, history of science, art history, early American history, material culture, and/or museum studies. Curatorial interns will work alongside staff curators in the American Philosophical Society (APS) Museum. Interns will assist curators in researching and planning the Museum’s upcoming exhibition, Benjamin Franklin’s Science (working title), to open in April 2020. Interns will join a small, versatile staff and will have the opportunity to see all aspects of museum work in action. Research sources include the APS Library’s wide range of archival and book collections (which can be explored online at https://www.amphilsoc.org/library/search-collections), including part of Benjamin Franklin’s library and the Benjamin Franklin papers, the APS Museum object collections, and outside scholarly sources. Interns will have the opportunity to assist curatorial staff on the preliminary stages of the exhibition—exploring APS Library’s collection of manuscripts and books relating to Benjamin Franklin and science in early America, conducting object-based research, and choosing papers and objects for exhibition.

Interns will gain skills in archival research, collections research, exhibition development, and develop writing and presentation skills while preparing a blog post and presentation for the APS. Interns will also have opportunities to observe conservation, education, outreach, and collections management work at the Museum and during field trips to Philadelphia-area institutions.

Examples of duties include the following activities:

·      Assist with scholarly historical research for use in Museum exhibitions, public programs, and publications using Museum, Library, and outside sources

·      Identify potential collections and/or objects for exhibition

·      Determine the provenance of archival or object collections

·      Photograph, describe, and document artifacts

·      Review concept documents for exhibition development

To apply, please submit a completed application, APS Application Form available on the LILAC Partner Internship website , a cover letter describing your interest in the project and how the internship may be useful to your future goals, a one-page CV or resume, and a short writing sample (3-5 pages, non-fiction, can be an excerpt from a longer paper) by Monday, February 25, 2019.

Benjamin Franklin’s Science (working title)

April – December 2020

The exhibition will examine Benjamin Franklin’s scientific achievements, experiments, and patronage and highlight how scientific thinking shaped his politics. Benjamin Franklin’s Science will explore the meaning of “science” in early America, Franklin’s commitment to sharing knowledge, and how he used his reputation as a man of science to his political advantage. Throughout, the exhibit will consider Franklin’s less well-known collaborators, including women and enslaved people, and his international network. The exhibit will also show how early American debates about topics such as climate and inoculation have contemporary relevance. Highlights of the exhibition will include a set of Leyden jars reportedly owned by Franklin, the only known portrait of Deborah Franklin, Franklin’s map of the Gulf Stream, and Franklin’s Experiments and Observations on Electricity.

The APS Museum, founded in 2001, develops original interdisciplinary exhibitions drawing on the APS’s extensive collections. The Museum is located in Philosophical Hall, adjacent to Independence Hall in Philadelphia’s historic district. Exhibitions explore the intersections of history, art, and science, and relate the historical materials on view to relevant issues today. Based on past attendance figures, it is anticipated that this exhibition will attract over 100,000 visitors.

APS Museum collections include approximately 3,000 artifacts, models, artworks, scientific instruments, and other objects dating from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Objects were acquired predominantly through past APS members and scientific activities of the APS. The collection reflects the central role of the APS and Philadelphia in the founding of the nation as well as the development of science and technology in the colonies and early Republic. The collection is strongest in objects relating to early American history (especially Benjamin Franklin, the APS’s founder) and scientific and technological instruments.

The American Philosophical Society Library is a major national center for research in Early American history and the history of the sciences, medicine, and technology. With its roots extending back to the founding of the Society in 1743, it houses over thirteen million manuscripts, 350,000 volumes and bound periodicals, 250,000 images, and thousands of hours of audio tape.

Among the many extraordinary books in the collections of printed materials are first editions of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia, a presentation copy of Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, the double elephant folio of Audubon’s Birds of North America, as well as a significant portion of Franklin’s personal library.

Manuscript collections range from eighteenth-century natural history, American Indian linguistics and culture, to nuclear physics, computer development, and medical science. The Library is among the premier institutions in the nation for documenting the history of genetics and eugenics, the study of natural history in the 18th and 19th centuries, quantum mechanics, and the development of cultural anthropology in America.