SPRING 2027 _ The Met
Paid Internships for MLIS Archives Graduate Students / Recent Grads
(1) Museum Archives + European Paintings – Loan & Exhibition Records
(2) Museum Archives + Digital Content Department – Film and Audio Collection
(3) Museum Archives + American Wing – Archival Survey
(4) Museum Archives + Asian Art – Irving Collection
(5) Museum Archives + Registrar’s Office – Department Records
About The Met Museum Archives: The objective of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives is to collect, organize, and preserve in perpetuity the corporate records and official correspondence of the Museum, to make this material accessible and provide research support, and to further an informed and enduring understanding of the Museum's history. Archives holdings include Board of Trustees records, legal documents, and Museum publications, office files of selected Museum staff, architectural drawings, press clippings, and ephemera. The Met Museum Archives department also works collaboratively to advise other museum departments on their archive and record keeping initiatives. Archives interns work on projects such as processing and rehousing archival materials, creating, or updating records in ArchivesSpace, and assisting with archival research. •••
(1) Museum Archives + European Paintings Department – Loan & Exhibition Records Established in 1886, The Met’s European Paintings Department encompasses more than 2,500 works of art from the thirteenth through the early twentieth century. The department’s rich collection and exhibition history traces its origins to the Museum’s founding purchase of 174 paintings from European dealers in 1871. The Spring 2027 archives intern in EP will help process a collection of analog [paper] outgoing loan records—for permanent departmental preservation and access. The records will be inventoried, assessed for any preservation needs, rehoused into stable containers, and catalogued at the folder level. The intern may also provide additional support to complete the final phase of an exhibition records project within the department as time allows.
(2) Museum Archives + Digital Content Department – Film and Audio Collection The Metropolitan Museum of Art is home to an extensive moving-image archive, which comprises over 1,500 films on art-related subjects, many of which are extremely rare. Over time since their initial creation and usage, these materials still retain significant artifactual value, providing insight into The Met’s history. To date, only select materials have been transferred and preserved. The bulk of the collection has been loosely inventoried and stored partially onsite in cold storage, though most of the collection resides in an offsite storage facility. The intern will continue ongoing workflows to catalogue these holdings at the item level, rehouse them, and move them to a more stable storage location. The cataloguing process will also include an assessment for potential conservation treatment.
(3) Museum Archives + The American Wing – Archives Survey The American Wing is seeking an intern to work in the department to appraise and inventory its varied archival materials. The American Wing currently stores former staff files, miscellaneous correspondence, exhibition files, collector and external collection files, some archival photographs, and other similar documents. The intern will help arrange, catalogue, and describe records so that these collections can be better utilized.
(4) Museum Archives + Asian Art Department – Irving Collection Based in the Asian Art Department, an intern will complete the cataloging of the Florence and Herbert Irving Collection records. This project works with art collection records, physical files, and digital files. The Spring 2027 project is a continuation of the initial cataloging process, which links information from ~1500 Irving Collection artworks with their related records, most of which have been digitized. The intern will complete the physical arrangement of records, as well as create a finding aid for the collection. The intern may also provide additional support to other recordsrelated projects within the department as time allows.
(5) Museum Archives + Registrar’s Office – Department Records The Registrar’s Office seeks an Archives intern to organize and catalog documentation related to The Met’s various art storage warehouse moves (from the 1950’s – 1990’s). These historic records offer insight into the history of artworks in our collection, and the arrangement and description of this collection will aid in better research access related to this important topic. This finding aid for this collection will also connect to other related research collections held at The Met. Additionally, the intern will potentially work on other archive and filing projects as time allows.
The Museum Archives is looking for interns with a desire to pursue a career in archives and an interest in the museum world. Only applicants currently enrolled or recently graduated from a Master of Library Science program or similar will be considered for an internship in The Met Archives.
Applicants should choose Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections in the Museum area placement and select Museum Archives as the area of interest. Each of the available archives internships should be listed; select all that are of interest. Applicants should also specify their preferred internship(s) in their supporting documents.
DEADLINE: September 16, 2026, 5 pm (ET) Spring internships run from the second week of February through the third week of April (10 weeks / 14 hours per week)
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO APPLY, CLICK HERE
The Metropolitan Museum of Art provides equal opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, mental or physical disability, pregnancy, alienage or citizenship status, marital status or domestic partner status, genetic information, genetic predisposition or carrier status, gender identity, HIV status, military status, and any other category protected by law in all employment decisions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, training and apprenticeship, promotion, upgrading, demotion, downgrading, transfer, lay-off and termination, and all other terms and conditions of employment.
