Opportunities

The Visual Resource Center in the Department of Art History is pleased to offer undergraduate internships to Art History majors who are interested in developing professional skills related to visual resources and image management. Working closely with the Curator and Digital Specialist, the intern will have the unique opportunity to develop core competencies associated with the production and management of digital image collections. Through their work in the Visual Resource Center, assigned readings and reflection papers, interns will become familiar with theory and best practices related to image archives, materiality, image production, cataloguing standards, controlled vocabularies, online databases, image repositories, and issues surrounding intellectual property. Specific opportunities will vary by term and may include handling both analog film and born-digital content.

A statement of interest is required in lieu of an application.

Interested art history majors should reference the below course catalog entry when contacting their academic advisor.

AHS 198/Individual Internship
Current Catalog Description: research, variable. Pre-requisite(s): consent of instructor and upper-division standing. Individual study or apprenticeship in a museum, art library, or slide and photo archive in order to gain practical experience and skills for future professional work. Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC). Course is repeatable to a maximum of 16 units.

The GluckGlobal Fellow engages exclusively in collaboration between UC Riverside’s Department of Art History and the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) through the Color Film Emergency Project (CFEP).  Working in UCR’s Visual Resource Collection, the GluckGlobal Fellow will have the unique opportunity to process an original collection of slide material from beginning to end: assess, organize, develop a finding aid, digitize, catalogue, and publish. Through processing of the collection, the GluckGlobal Fellow will develop critical skills for determining value, be exposed to issues of intellectual property, and become familiar with cataloguing standards, controlled vocabularies, Artstor’s Shared Shelf, and other open content digital repositories. The fellowship will culminate with the publication of digitized images across multiple online platforms.

Color Film Emergency Project Background
The CFEP has emerged from the realization that valuable 35mm slide collections created and amassed by 20th century scholars of the built environment are threatened with loss, destruction, and environmental damage. Some of the factors threatening these collections are the obsolescence of the medium for teaching; the advancing age, and retirement, of the creators; the lack of appropriate archival storage. The SAH, through the CFEP, recognizes the importance of this part of 20th-century intellectual history and documentation, and aims to facilitate its preservation, digitization, and access.

Interested in working with images but don’t have enough time for a full-length internship or fellowship? The VRC can work with you to design a flexible volunteer opportunity that fits your schedule. Even with just a few hours a week to spare, we can craft a small-scale opportunity that will help you develop professional skills while building your resume – without having to leave campus.

Past volunteers have helped index legacy slide collections, digitized 19th-century glass lantern slides, and have researched historical images to provide accurate cataloguing data.

Volunteer opportunities are limited and a statement of intent is required to apply. For more information contact: visualresources@ucr.edu