The British Library is pleased to be able to offer a nine-month internship in the Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts section of the Western Heritage Department for a post-graduate or post-doctoral student in History, Art History, Medieval Language or Literature or other relevant subject.
The intern will be involved in all aspects of the work of the Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts section, including responding to enquiries, providing talks for students and patrons, selecting and presenting manuscripts for display in our exhibition gallery, and cataloguing, thereby gaining insight into various curatorial duties and aspects of collection care. During the internship at the Library, the intern will enjoy privileged access to printed and manuscript research material, and will work alongside specialists with wide-ranging and varied expertise.
The primary focus of the internship will be to enhance the online Digitised Manuscripts site by creating and supplementing catalogue entries for medieval manuscripts and accompanying images. The intern will also assist in researching and answering inquiries, preparing manuscripts for exhibition and writing exhibition labels, writing blog posts, and assisting in presentations to students and visitors, working under the supervision of the Lead Curator, Illuminated Manuscripts.
The internship is designed to provide an opportunity for the student to develop research skills and expertise in medieval history, and in presenting manuscripts to a range of audiences.
Previous interns have given feedback that they felt a valued member of the team, gained professional confidence and developed their career by carrying out a ‘real’ job with specific duties.
This is a full-time paid internship for nine months starting in January 2016, or as soon as relevant security checks have been completed.
Eligibility
The programme is only open to students who are engaged actively in research towards, or have recently completed a PhD in a subject area relevant to the study of medieval manuscripts and who have a right to work in the UK full time.