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Opportunity: MD Two Fifty Fellows Paid Internship at the East Baltimore Historical Library

The East Baltimore Historical Library (EBHL) seeks a paid intern to work on a 6 week public history project in August-September 2025. The intern will collect oral histories and conduct digital community archiving as part of the EBHL church history archiving project, as well as interpreting this material for a display at EBHL. Documenting the history of East Baltimore Black churches is pivotal to preserving the legacies of Civil Rights activists, community organizers, business leaders, caregivers, and others whose voices are not part of institutional archives. EBHL will draw from its network of pastors and church elders to match the intern with 4-6 interviewees.

Details:
Compensation is $25/hour, and work hours are 8 hours per week. Expected outcomes are 4-6 oral histories (digital recording and transcript), portrait photographs of participants, digitization of community archive material to be shared with the Digital Maryland repository, and a display interpreting the oral history project to be housed at EBHL.

Qualifications:
Advanced undergraduate or graduate student (MA or PhD programs) with interest in public history and community archiving. Experience conducting oral histories, using digital audio and visual tools, and writing for a public audience. Strong communication skills and scheduling flexibility. Ability to travel to EBHL and interview sites.

 How to apply:
Send a CV and a short (1-2 paragraph) statement describing your interest and qualifications to the project coordinator, Alicia Puglionesi: apuglio1@jh.edu

About this project:
The internship is supported by the State of Maryland’s MD Two Fifty initiative, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The EBHL archiving project supports recent efforts nationwide to find, reclaim and preserve Black cultural history. It also supports efforts to document the history of East Baltimore, a neighborhood which has been home to a succession of racial, ethnic, and religious groups, and which for the past twenty years has undergone extensive redevelopment. The American rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are not equally available to all citizens, yet people have always struggled to assert their rights and dignity, sometimes in small ways that are never documented. Community archiving honors those local-level struggles, and allows communities to reflect on their achievements and contributions, especially at significant milestones such as the nation’s 250th anniversary. The display at EBHL will interpret the stories of local residents as they relate to major themes in the American story: slavery and freedom, migration and immigration, faith and community, and rights and democratic participation. Preserving these materials digitally will make them accessible to the public through the Digital Maryland website into the indefinite future.

Posted: August 1, 2025, 6:37 PM