Hello all,
I am wonder if anyone here has interned or interviewed at Winterthur Museum for their one year (or summer) curatorial/collections internships? Personally, I love early American history and material culture, and I have been considering applying for their MA in American Material Culture for Fall 2013; as I seek to one day curate at a museum, the internship is a terrific fit for my current research interests, and also my professional and academic goals. I feel fortunate to interview.
Winterthur Museum
1.) Have you interviewed for the internships? What is the process like? How can I best prepare for the hour and a half interview? What kinds of questions might I field?
2.) If so, where did you go after the internship? Did you advance in the museum field, or return for further graduate school (as I hope to do these both)?
2a.) If a return to academia -- Were you able to conduct research/do conferences, and generally, develop academically, concurrent to the internship? Did you connect with the department of art history at University of Delaware or the profs in the American Material Culture program?
To add to this internship interview, I also have applications out for non-academic museum positions. Positions which are not too taxing (so in the evenings I can work on my SOPs and study GREs), and positions which are higher paying, so that I might be able to submit more grad school apps.
Of course, it depends on what I am offered, and if I am offered suitable museum employment, I will definitely accept it however it comes, because I want to keep working in the field. Although, if I have two or more offers on the table, I want to start thinking about how to prioritize short-term... for the long-term goals (of further graduate school.) Any thoughts are welcome.