Internships

What is an Internship?

An internship provides an invaluable learning experience, an opportunity to explore a potential career field, a chance to learn and teach history beyond the classroom, and a vehicle for gaining hands-on experience that will enhance any resume, graduate school application, or law school application, regardless of the nature of the internship itself. The details and duties of any internship will vary according to the student, the site, and the site supervisor, but in general an internship will require at least 120 hours of work related to the site's operations (an average of eight hours per week over the course of a fifteen-week semester).

Most internships are not paid. Ideally, an internship will supplement, enhance, and allow you to apply what you've learned in your history classes. You might work in a museum, at a historic site, in a local library or archive, with a historical organization, or with a local government agency. You'll enter your internship as a history student, but you'll quickly learn that "history" outside of an academic setting means much more than lectures, books, papers, and grades.

I Have Obtained an Internship, Where Can I Get The Required Paperwork for The Program?

All of the internship forms can be found in digital format below. Please contact the History Department's Internship Coordinator to organize submitting these forms. 

 

Internship Guide and Resources

Internship Learning Contract

Statement of Understanding and Release

Internship Reflective Essay

What Are Some Examples of Internship Locations?

In recent semesters, CSUF History students have undertaken internships throughout Southern California, across the country, and in Europe. Host sites and institutions have included:

 

• The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
• The Autry National Center of the American West (Los Angeles)
• The Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site (St. Louis)
• The Royal Air Force Museum (London)
• The National Archives and Records Administration (Laguna Niguel)
• The Ocean Institute (Dana Point)
• The Nixon Presidential Library and Museum (Yorba Linda)
• The San Diego Historical Society
• The Old Courthouse Museum (Santa Ana)
• The Center for Oral and Public History
• The Heritage House at CSUF 
• The Orange County Agricultural & Nikkei Heritage Museum

How Do I Obtain and Complete an Internship?

While it is your respobsibility to obtain and complete your internship, the History Department's Internship Coordinator can help— here are some steps:

1. Identify the type of site where you’d like to intern (e.g., museum, archive, historic site).

2. Research potential sites and the work they do.

3. Contact the site to inquire about internships, noting that you are a CSUF History student seeking course credit.

4. Decide whether the opportunity is a good fit.

5. Register by meeting with the History Internship Coordinator to obtain permission to enroll in History 498 or 596.

6. With your site supervisor, complete and submit required preliminary paperwork outlining responsibilities and learning objectives.

7. Complete the internship, logging at least 120 hours during the semester.
   Stay in contact with the History Internship Coordinator and attend the mid-semester intern meeting.

8. Submit a reflective essay after completing the internship; this, along with supervisor evaluations and internship products, will determine your grade.