Job Listing
 🔗Researching Enslaved Individuals Intern

  • Internship
  • Part Time
  • Temporary
  • Richmond, VA
  • 1500 USD / Month
  • Applications have closed
  • Job Summary: The Valentine is seeking a part-time summer intern to begin creating a compendium of names of individuals enslaved by the Wickham family. The intern will work closely with the City Historian in documenting and analyzing archival materials.
  • Job Qualifications:

    Interested candidates should be highly organized, detail-oriented, skilled at reading cursive handwriting, patient, and critical thinkers. This work requires both thoughtful analysis and routine completion of repetitive tasks. It will involve sorting through large amounts of data to find information and meaning.

    Applicants should have demonstrated experience conducting archival and/or genealogical research, including documenting and analyzing primary sources. Prior experience doing this work in service of Black history is excellent, but not required. This experience may be for coursework or from previous jobs or internships. Please enclose a writing or project sample that demonstrates this experience using the online Internship Application.

    Junior, senior, or graduate student applicants preferred. History, Black/African Studies, American Studies, and similar majors preferred.

  • How to Apply:

    Complete the online application on the Valentine website and attach a resume, cover letter, unofficial transcript, and work sample. Applications must be submitted by 11:59pm on Sunday, March 10, 2024. Contact intern@thevalentine.org with any questions or technical difficulties.

  • Application URL: https://thevalentine.org/get-involved/internshipapplication/

Website The Valentine

The mission of the Valentine is to engage, educate, and challenge a diverse audience by collecting, preserving, and interpreting Richmond’s history.

The intern will work with the City Historian to begin creating a compendium of the names of all of the hundreds individuals enslaved by the Wickham family. The Wickham family lived in the Wickham House (built 1812-1814), which later became The Valentine’s first museum building. The project will span at least three properties owned by the Wickhams in central Virginia, including the Wickham House, Hickory Hill Plantation, and James River Plantation. The intern’s work will include visiting archives in Richmond and Charlottesville in order to document archival resources (transportation to locations outside Richmond City will be provided). The name collection project will formally begin during the intern’s work period, and the intern will have the opportunity to help inform some elements of the project. This project will not be completed in one summer and is part of a much larger exploration of the lives of individuals enslaved by the Wickhams, including extensive additional research and collaboration with descendants. This intern’s work will establish the foundation for the reinterpretation of the Wickham House and the memorialization of those enslaved by the family. Collecting this information is labor intensive and requires both thoughtful analysis and routine completion of repetitive tasks.

Duties Include:
–  Visiting archives in Richmond and Charlottesville and photographing historic documents

– Uploading and organizing photographs to the museum’s digital records according to internal standards

– Analyzing historic documents and organizing their data in a spreadsheet or similar organizational tool

Grant-funded stipend available in the amount of $1500.00 per semester. Flexible schedule, approximately 10-20 hours per week.