Internship Opportunities at the Center of Southwest Studies

The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, is offering internship opportunities in various program categories. The emphasis from 2003-2008 has been paid internships for Native Americans. (Internships in archaeological work are available through the Anthropology Department.) The Center of Southwest Studies is located in a new $7.6 million 50,000 SF building.

This is the fifth and final year of this 3-year Earmark!

The Center of Southwest Studies, a core academic program of Fort Lewis College, collects and disseminates information about the Southwest. The Center functions as a museum, library, and archives, and as a forum for public programming, to enhance people’s understanding of the Greater Southwest.

The Center's Native American Honors Internships program provides select Native students with quality, mentored paid internships in the following areas: archives, library, museum, and historic preservation. Interns will be based at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, with outreach opportunities at institutions in the Four Corners Region.

>>CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Archival interns may work with the Center's Certified Archivist in charge of hundreds of collections of documents, photographs, and original collections including the papers of Professor Richard Ellis and U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell and historic photographs of the Southwest. Click here for a description of current archival projects at the Center.

In 1999-2000, the Center was only of two sites in the nation to receive a prestigious National Historical Publications and Records Commission fellowship in archival administration. Anne Foster, the archival fellow for that year, wrote that her fellowship experience was extremely positive. She reported that, “The opportunity to make significant contributions to the Center by researching and making policy recommendations was especially appreciated.” “The variety of tasks assigned and the amount of responsibility entrusted to me made the entire year both challenging and rewarding,” she wrote. “Most of all, Todd’s support, time, and encouragement truly helped me reach my professional goals.”
Click here to read the archival internship guidelines.

Email the Archivist at archives@fortlewis.edu


	MUSEUM

Museology students may assist the Center’s curator, Jeanne Brako, and learn about prehistoric ceramics like Ancestral Pueblo pots and other materials. The Center is the home of one of the nation’s finest collections of Southwestern weavings, featuring 800 years of exceptional Navajo, Hispanic, and Pueblo rugs, dresses and blankets. Sotheby’s has rated the Durango Collection™ one of the best in the nation; its value was appraised at $2.4 million.

Library Science students learn and work in a special library setting in a variety of areas including technical services, reference, collection development and maintenance, and programming. Interns assist the librarian with maintaining Delaney Southwest Research Library�s book and periodical collections and gain working knowledge of special library operations. Both student and professional interns are introduced to theoretical and gain practical experience in library and information science through readings, workshops, special programs and lectures. All interns have opportunity to travel and meet other tribal librarians and graduate library school representatives, both in Southwest and beyond.

In addition, the Fort Lewis College Department of Anthropology offers an archaeological field school and an outreach program for high school students. Contact Mona Charles at charles_m@fortlewis.edu

Researchers are also invited to use the Center’s resources. Collections include major manuscript, photograph, map, and other documents pertaining to the Four Corners region of the Southwest. In recent years, the heaviest usage came from scholars studying environmental history topics.

Interested? Please check out our website at http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu For the archival internship, email archives@fortlewis.edu; for the library internship, email Silversmith_E@fortlewis.edu. Minorities (especially Native Americans) are heartily encouraged to apply.

About the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College

Description of Center of Southwest Studies programs

Center of Southwest Studies home

Page last modified: October 09, 2007

Internships available at the Center of Southwest Studies

Native American Honors Internships
Archives
Museum
Library
Archaeology