Internship at the American Museum of Natural History, Invertebrate Zoology Department- Malacology Collection – Museum Studies

Job Title: Intern

Location: New York, NY

Spring semester 2025– 200 hours – $20 per hour, $4000 per semester – onsite work
Ideal schedule: 10-15 hours per week

The AMNH Malacology collection is a global collection of mollusks established in 1874, with particular emphasis on North America and the Eastern Pacific. Mollusks are an animal group consisting of slugs, snails, squids, octopuses, scallops, cockles, whelks, and limpets within 8 classes, Polyplacophora, Monoplacophora, Gastropoda, Cephalopoda, Bivalvia, and Scaphopoda. Most mollusks are marine, but
these animals also occupy freshwater and terrestrial habitats. Currently the Malacology collection at AMNH contains approximately 500,000 lots with representatives of 406 families.

The Malacology Collection has an interdisciplinary team, which currently includes Dr. Jessica Goodheart, Assistant Curator of Malacology, and Laura Rincón Rodriguez, Museum Specialist for Malacology and multiple volunteers of various backgrounds. Our diversity in expertise, cultural backgrounds, languages, and personal experiences are integral aspects of our team. We see biological collections as dynamic and
active hubs that can better serve the needs of their audiences and the mission of the AMNH. We eagerly anticipate continued collaboration with the scientific and natural history collections communities, graduate students and the public to ensure that the collections remain available and preserved for generations to come.

As part of our care of the Malacology collections, we have projects that we would like an intern to assist on, though the specific project chosen will depend on the interest of the intern. This is our priority list, in order of priority:
– Catalog and database, move, and organize a set of specimens intended to reside in new cabinets to be delivered in December of this year
– Organize, process, and re-integrate pending loans listed in the Mollusca collection
– Identify and track the possible sources of undocumented specimens or other sources that can help to connect to their documentation.
– Catalog and databased specimens that have not been yet included in our collections
management system KE EMu.

We are looking for an intern who is proactive in proposing ideas or alternatives methodologies to apply in collection management, is an effective communicator, and is open to exchanging knowledge and experiences. We want to learn from you, your internship experience, and we hope you can learn from us. We aim to make this internship a portal for your curiosity and creativity, a path to better understand
collections, and to inspire you in your next steps as a Museum Studies professional. What we love about collections is that they can adapt to the current practices and needs of the staff who are ready to implement and advance the collection. You do not need a background in natural sciences. We are seeking someone with basic knowledge of collections management who is willing to learn how this
applies in the real world of natural history collections.

How To Apply

Applications must be submitted via email to: lrincon-rodriguez@amnh.org by November 29, 2024

Applications must include: resume and a written essay (max. 2 pages) or a digital piece about your motivation/expectations to pursue this internship.
*Digital piece can be a pamphlet, publication in any preferred social media, a diagram, a board using padlet.com, magazine cover, YouTube short video (3 minutes max.) etc.