Public History Pathways: Internships in Public History with Jacob Winton

Growing up and all the way through high school, history was not only my best subject but also the one I was most interested in. I enjoyed learning about all aspects of the past from U.S. to world history. When I began to think about college and jobs, I remembered that as a teenager I wanted to either work in a museum or for the National Park Service because of the many trips my family had taken. I just did not know how to get there. As a first step, I volunteered at Russell Cave National Monument near my hometown for a couple of years in high school. That gave me some experience with public history, and I realized that there were many career paths I could follow with a history degree.

My first two semesters at college doing history were challenging, simply because of the upgrade from high school to university. But once I got into the swing of things, and I started taking upper-level classes which covered many different topics and areas and allowed me to undertake a lot of research projects, I was happy. When it came to my senior year, I was weighing up whether to start a job or get a little bit more education. Ultimately, I decided that grad school was the way for me.

Based on advice from my undergrad professors, I applied to a few institutions to join their M.A. programs in history. Florida State was one of them. I applied, I got in, and I was offered a fellowship for support. I chose Tallahassee, and when I moved here, I realized that it was not so different from my hometown. Going from undergrad to grad school was an adjustment, but once I had acclimatized, I realized that I had made the right choice.

I joined the M.A. in American History program and added public history as a minor field. Again, my first semester in the grad program was challenging. The coursework was a lot more time consuming than I had expected. I also did not know how to manage my work-life balance. My roommates who are Ph.D. students in the department took me aside and told me to take breaks when studying so that I did not burn out. They helped me recognize my limits.

I decided to do another internship while a grad student. I had done one in my senior year in college at Limestone County Archives in Alabama. My job there had been to process the collection of a local senator, the Walker-Lipham Collection. That meant going through his correspondence, photographs, memorabilia, labeling the items, entering the metadata before the material was uploaded to the digital archive to provide public access.

I applied to the Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation for one of their summer internships. I was able to extend the position into the fall semester. I am the research intern which actually means that I do a lot of things besides research, like working with patrons and creating projects! But if there is any research to be done, then it often falls to me to find the information. A lot of our clients are real estate agents who need information on historic buildings.

In the beginning, my boss sat me down and talked me through all the things the Trust does. It is a nonprofit organization that helps preserve the historic districts in Tallahassee. It ensures that any changes to historic houses are made following the correct design guidelines. Whenever a request for information and help deals with a situation new to me, my boss explains what needs to be done, and I get to follow along. My task is to retrieve information to support whatever project is being worked on at that moment. On average I work ten hours a week, partly remote and partly in person.

The biggest challenge for me was that in the beginning I did not know too much about architecture. I have learned a lot from each project that we worked on. Still, sometimes it is overwhelming, and I think: I don’t know what this is. I don't know what this means. I don't know what I'm doing. That’s when I have to sit back and remember that I have people and resources to help me figure things out, that I am not unqualified, just less experienced. I need to banish the impostor syndrome and move forward to learn more things.

The best part of the internship is working with the Tallahassee Trust team is that they are a great group of people, and I enjoy sharing their passion for historic preservation. On top of that, I learned a lot about Tallahassee, especially about buildings that are talked about but are no longer there.

When I look back at the places I volunteered and interned in, I have covered quite a few aspects of public history. At Russell Cave, I gave tours and learned to customize my talk to my audience. At the archive, I was introduced to processing primary documents to archival standards so that they are available to the public. And at the Tallahassee Trust, I am learning how to help people look after their historic homes. All these opportunities have shown me different things I can do with history, especially community-based history.

Drawing on the experience I have gained so far, I am applying for both internships and full-time jobs in the field of public history. I am open to learning new things or working within the areas of museum education or historic preservation that I already know I bit about. My absolute dream position would be to be an interpretive ranger at Gettysburg National Battlefield!

My biggest advice to those interested in internships in public history is: go ahead and do it! Even if it is in a field that you are not particularly interested in right now, consider the internship an opportunity to learn new skills, network, and enlarge your horizon. Sometimes taking a job in a field that you did not think you would like will actually open your eyes to an area that you might want to pursue later.