Lewistown Public Library, Archives and Preservation Internship, Summer 2025
Every summer, The Bill Lane Center for the American West offers many opportunities for Stanford undergraduates (including graduating seniors and co-terms) to work with organizations throughout the West. Through these internships, students can explore careers in natural history, conservation, land use, museum curation, resource management, energy and more.
All internships are full-time for nine to ten weeks during the summer. They are fully funded by the Lane Center with stipends ranging from $7,500 to $10,000.
The Lane Center has placed hundreds of interns in positions across the West since 2005. It has developed strong relationships with host organizations and works hard to ensure interns have successful and enriching experiences.
For more information about the internship program, please visit the FAQs page, or email Education Manager Corinne Thomas.
Details about the previous student interns and their placements can be found here.
Student reflections about the internship experience can be found by visiting the Out West student blog and the Lane Center Instagram channel.
Stipend Information:
The Bill Lane Center will provide a base stipend of $7,500 with additional funding for student financial aid and location, if applicable, up to $10,000. The stipend is provided to cover living expenses and, if applicable, part of the summer earnings expectation of the Office of Financial Aid.
The stipend is not intended to be, and is not, a paid, hourly wage. An internship is an educational and experiential learning opportunity intended for the student to apply their academics and gain real-world experience.
Description of the Organization and the Internship:
The Lewistown Public Library provides free and equal access to quality materials and services, which fulfill the educational, informational, cultural, and recreational needs of the entire community.
Its goal is to preserve, build, and showcase its archives to help the community understand its history and navigate its future. The intern will work with staff, volunteers, and local and state organizations as needed to develop projects based on the library archives, as well as those maintained by the city, county, schools, and other organizations. Projects will be developed in coordination with the Library Director and Archives and Preservation Librarian, and may include stories, websites, educational materials, and local events.
Internship Work Environment:
This internship is in person. The intern will work as part of the library team, including Director Alissa Wolenetz (Stanford class of 2018) and Archives and Preservation Librarian Drew Kettering.
The team is happy to develop this internship to fit the academic priorities and interests of individual interns, and will do its best to provide unique, tailored training and project opportunities. The director is a Stanford alum who is excited about the possibility of working with current students.
The library has a supportive and creative work environment focused on innovation, kindness, community collaborations, individual development, and continued learning. The intern will coordinate with library staff to ensure that projects align with library policies and best practices for historic preservation. The team will develop a plan for the summer collaboratively and will set up strong systems to support project implementation and continued learning throughout the internship.
Day-to-day work: Libraries are wild places! This will be an engaging internship that changes day to day. It focuses on regular check-ins and clearly defined project goals so that the team can complete tasks while fulfilling reference requests from the public and outside organizations.
Location: Lewistown, Montana
Housing: There may be housing available and the team will assist with the search if necessary.
Transportation: It would be helpful to have a car. Lewistown is a rural area with beautiful outdoor recreation opportunities. The library is also within a few hours of both Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. While not strictly necessary, a car would be incredibly beneficial for the intern, and they may struggle in this area without one.
- Digitize existing archives, including photos, documents, and newspapers, according to LPL policies and procedures and in concert with the Montana History Portal, an online archives database hosted by the Montana State Library.
- Continue adding to the archives by collecting information about local topics of interest from a variety of mediums (local publications, oral histories, etc.).
- Use archives to create interactive online stories, local radio programs, and in-person exhibits and events.
- Develop educational materials that meet state curriculum standards and can be used in local schools.
- Help create a digital platform or online storage system for local archives that is accessible to both patrons and staff.
Bill Lane Center internships are part of Cardinal Quarter opportunities and students from all disciplines are encouraged to apply. The opportunities are full-time (40 hours a week) for 9-10 consecutive weeks during the summer.
Specific start and end dates can be coordinated directly with the supervisor.
All undergraduates of any year, including graduating seniors, are eligible. Graduating seniors are eligible only if they are graduating in spring quarter. Students who have already graduated, e.g., fall or winter quarter of this academic year are not eligible.
For more application advice, please visit the BLC’s FAQs page.
Please note:
- Students are not permitted to engage in another full-time internship, job, or volunteer opportunity (whether funded by Stanford or otherwise) during this full-time, summer internship.
- Student athletes should confirm the impact of any awarded stipend on their athletic eligibility by contacting the Compliance Services Office prior to committing to an internship.
- New Stipend Policy per the U.S. Department of Education: A stipend is considered a resource and it may have an impact on a student’s financial aid. To comply with US Department of Education regulations, student payments, awards, prizes, and gifts that are made available to the student because they are a Stanford student, must be reported to the Financial Aid Office. The Financial Aid Office is responsible for the disbursement of stipend funds to undergraduates. For more information, please visit the Financial Aid Office's webpage about the student stipend policy.
Application Guidelines for this Internship:
Students majoring in English, History, Education, Computer Science, Comparative Literature, Symbolic Systems, or Communication may be especially interested in this internship, but students from all majors and class years are welcome to apply.
Students should demonstrate high levels of accountability and independence.
Required Skills: We are looking for someone who wants to create engaging programming for our community, loves history, and would like to be part of a team-oriented profession with established and dedicated coworkers.
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Public and customer service skills
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Self-motivation when working independently
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Able to quickly acquire new skills and adapt to changes in schedules or setbacks in projects.
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Able to manage and prioritize several projects at the same time
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Resourcefulness and initiative
Desired Skills:
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Teaching skills
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Experience working with rural communities
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Experience with historical preservation, archives, and local history projects
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Basic coding skills
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Design (art, graphics, website)
Selection of applicants:
Complete applications are screened and finalists are contacted for an interview with staff from The Bill Lane Center for the American West. The top candidates for the position are forwarded to the organization for direct interviews with their potential supervisors and other staff.
Host organizations will then notify the Lane Center of their preferred candidate and that applicant will receive an internship offer from the Bill Lane Center by email.
The applicant is expected to respond promptly (within 48 hours) via email to the offer or the offer will be rescinded.
Once an applicant accepts an offer, they should promptly notify all other Stanford and non-Stanford programs to which they have applied that they have accepted another offer and withdraw their candidacy from those other opportunities.
