Learning Lab interns work closely with a single, unprocessed collection held by the Special Collections Research Center. Unprocessed collections are not available to outside researchers, and while archivists have a general idea of the collections' contents, they don't always know what they'll find when they open the box. As a Learning Lab intern, you will be the first person to open the box and explore the papers, photographs, or other materials that make up your collection. Over the course of the year-long internship, you will organize, describe, and creatively engage with your collection to produce an original scholarly research project.
When you apply for the internship, you should have an idea of the collection you would like to work with. All of our available collections are listed by subject below. Our collections vary widely across time periods and contain an assortment of materials that appeal to students across majors. The collection that you choose will be the subject of your short application essay describing your interests and what you hope to learn from working with archival materials.
You can see the many directions you can take archival research, and the interdisciplinary opportunities available to our interns, by taking a look at past Learning Lab projects.
Applications for the Learning Lab Internship are accepted annually in the Spring.
Apply Now
Collection of Appalachian memorabilia, 1970s–1980s. This collection contains posters, broadsides, calendars, and drawings related to Appalachian music and musicians, crafts, and writers. Posters include Bill Monroe, John Jacob Niles, Lee Pennington, and James Still, among others. There is a women coal miners calendar and even a coal themed board game. (Subjects: Appalachia; Bluegrass music; crafts; writers) 2024ms026
Goff family papers, 1900-1940s. Anna Chandler Goff and her brother Sudduth Goff were both artists. She was a pianist, patron of the arts, and founder of the Lexington College of Music; her brother was a painter who taught in Chicago. This collection contains family papers, photographs, clippings, exhibit catalogs, and correspondence related to both Goffs. (Subjects: music, philanthropy, art, community, education) 2009ms158
Charles Semones papers, 1950s–1980s. Charles Semones (1937–2015) was a Kentucky poet who grounded much of his work in the rich land of Mercer County, Kentucky. Wade Hall, an editor and friend, described his work as “in his reclusive, gospel-drenched, haunted world of draped mirrors and desperate dog days of summer, the poet-lover moves along his lonely route seeking and hoping for at least a brief respite from the Gothic horrors, internal and external, that course his journey. Semones’s own autobiographical travels and travails, which he has translated into a universal poetry of the soul, will resonate deeply with anyone who thinks deeply about the human condition.” The collection includes personal papers, clippings, manuscripts, typescripts, correspondence with other Kentucky authors, and book reviews. (Subjects: literature, poets, manuscripts) 2009ms081
Thoreau Club records, 1910–1970. The Thoreau Club of Lebanon, Kentucky, was founded in 1895 and is the oldest literary club in Kentucky. Named after Henry David Thoreau because the founding members wanted it to be named after an outstanding American author, the object of the club is “the mutual improvement of its members in literature, art, science, and the vital interests of the day.” (Subjects: literature; women’s clubs and societies; education) 2024ms042
