Volunteer opportunities at the Tenement Museum include leading tours of our historic tenement, answering phones in the office or greeting visitors during our evening lecture series Tenement Talks. If you would like to learn more about volunteering at the Tenement Museum, please contact jwhittet@tenement.org.
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to making all personnel decisions without regard to age, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, disability, marital status, citizenship, pregnancy, sexual orientation, veteran status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, or any other category protected by law.
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum is seeking two Education Department interns during summer of 2010. Internships will start in June and last through August, depending on workload and the intern’s schedule. Ideal candidates are self-starters who have an outgoing personality and work well collaboratively; great organizational abilities; experience within the education field, and an interest in the museum profession. The following positions are available:
Tenement Talks Intern
Reports to: Tenement Talks Manager
Available: Fall 2010
Project Description: The Tenement Talks Intern will work on all aspects of
Tenement Talks, providing media, administrative, and program support. This person will work
15-20 hours/week and will be expected to work at least one evening Tenement Talk per week.
The ideal candidate has an interest in creating museum programs and is equally comfortable hosting
a party or sitting at a desk. Students often receive class credit for this internship.
Please send résumé and cover letter to events@tenement.org
Responsibilities:
Media Support
- Write copy for e-blasts
- Research biographical information on presenters
- Maintain a photo database of presenters and images needed for our website
- Update Twitter and Facebook accounts
- Monitor press for event listings
- Maintain mailing. Compose and send e-mails to all individuals who register to receive e-mails.
- Manage Tenement Talks membership packets
- Manage ticket and book sales for talks when appropriate
- Coordinate with other departments to maintain interdepartmental communication
- Keep folders for each event with contact information, press clipping and other important resources
- Track attendance, book sales, donations and other relevant event details
- Manage one entire event from beginning to end before the end of the semester
Tenement Talks Podcast Intern
Reports to: Tenement Talks Manager
Available: Fall 2010
Project Description: The Lower East Side Tenement Museum seeks a
Podcast Intern to edit and post podcasts for the Tenement Talks event series. This person
should have an interest in New York history and culture as well as working knowledge and skill
in digital media. This person will work at the museum 8-15 hours/week. The ideal candidate is
self-motivated and organized.
Send résumé and cover letter to events@tenement.org. This is an unpaid internship, but class credit is certainly possible.
Responsibilities:
Podcast Management
- Download all files from audio recorder
- Edit Tenement Talks Podcasts
- Upload podcast to Tenement Talks website
- Keep all files organized on server
- Work on occasional podcast for Education Department
- Manage YouTube Page
- Find innovative and effective ways to circulate podcasts among social media outlets
- Seek out relevant video other organizations are using that we may want to promote
- Brand YouTube Page
- Work with iTunes University
- Forge partnerships with other institutions (such as BookTV, NYU Radio, Channel 13)
- Work with Amanda to develop other new ways to use audio and visual media to promote and share Tenement Talks
NEH intern
Project Description: The Lower East Side Tenement Museum seeks an intern to assist the Vice President for Education with work related to a planning grant. The grant, titled Under the Tenement Rooftops, brings humanities scholars to the Museum for a series of lectures to infuse the Education Department with new ways of thinking and talking about Lived Religion and the Progressive Movement on our public and school group tours. This could be an under-graduate or graduate student for a semester or full academic year. Duties will include:
- Attend workshops and lectures associated with NEH grant
- Help create and administer visitor and educator questionnaires
- Summarize and report on results of questionnaires
- Conduct primary and secondary research on objects in tenement apartments to both inform participating NEH scholars as well as for possible future public programming at museum.
- Provide administrative support when necessary
3-D Tenement Model Project Manager Intern
Project Description: The Lower East Side Tenement Museum seeks an intern for Fall, 2010 to manage the creation of a 3-D touchable model of the Museum’s historic tenement building at 97 Orchard St. This project will include:
- Gathering pertinent measurements of the tenement building
- Drafting possible constructions of the model
- Finding the appropriate person/organization to create the model
- Overseeing communication and budget regarding the creation of this model
- Creating resources and signage for Museum Staff and visitors on how to use this model most effectively
Qualified applicants will have a background in either multimedia art or architecture, and will feel comfortable networking within these fields to find the most appropriate vendors to complete this project.
This intern will also assist the Education Associate for Program Development as needed in increasing accessibility throughout the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.
Please send a letter of interest and resume or C.V. to Sarah Litvin, Education Associate for Program Development, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 91 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002 or slitvin@tenement.org
Confino Family Apartment Furnishings Intern
Project Description: The Lower East Side Tenement Museum seeks an intern to conduct
preliminary background research into how the recreated Confino apartment has changed over time,
and to make recommendations for preservation and curatorial updates. The Confino apartment was one
of the first recreated tenement apartments, and has housed the Confino Family Living History
program for nearly fifteen years.
This could be an under-graduate or graduate student for a semester or full academic year.
Duties will include:
- Archival research into the initial development of the Confino apartment, including the provenance of its furnishings
- Documenting the changes in the Confino apartment over time
- Research the interior furnishings of turn-of-the-century Sephardic Jewish homes in Kastoria and New York
- Make recommendations for the preservation of the Confino apartment and furnishings
- Source potential new furnishings for a revised apartment
Please send a letter of interest and resume or C.V. to Sarah Litvin, Education Associate for Program Development, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 91 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002 or slitvin@tenement.org
Information Technology Intern
Available: Fall 2010
Project Description: The Lower East Side Tenement Museum seeks a tech savvy intern to
provide assistance for all aspects of the Museum's technology, audiovisual equipment, phones, and security.
Limited experience is necessary. The intern must be highly motivated and able to learn any technological
component quickly, and must be able to perform tasks with minimal supervision. The intern will deal with
individual workstations and technological needs, as well as some of the Museum's vendors. Interpersonal
skills and discretion are absolutely necessary. The Museum is a dynamic and rapidly changing institution
that requires someone who is highly adaptable and willing to learn. The individual should have an
interest in museums and be ready to come up with new ways of how the Museum's technology can be used
towards its mission.
Please send a letter of interest and resume or C.V. to Jonathan Lagdameo, Information Technology Coordinator,
Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 91 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002 or
jlagdameo@tenement.org
Oral History and Chinese-Language Press
Project Title: Researching 103 Orchard Street: Oral History and Chinese-Language Press
Available: Fall 2010
Project Description: The Lower East Side Tenement Museum uses 97 Orchard Street as a
lens to examine the history of tenement life and the immigrant experience on the Lower
East Side of Manhattan. But because the building's life as a residence terminates in 1935,
the Museum has been unable to extend its interpretation beyond that date. In preparation
for future exhibit development, the intern will conduct research on the tenement at 103
Orchard Street, the future home of the Museum's Visitors & Education Center. As part
of this process, the intern will conduct a series of oral histories with the building's long-
time, Chinese-speaking residents. In addition, the intern will conduct research in New
York's Chinese-language press with the goal of learning about 103 Orchard Street's
Chinese immigrant residents and about the Chinese immigrant experience on the Lower
East Side. In order to be considered for this internship, candidates must demonstrate
fluency in Cantonese.
Please send a letter of interest and resume or C.V. to David Favaloro, Director of
Curatorial Affairs, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 91 Orchard Street, New York,
NY 10002 or dfavaloro@tenement.org
Oral History and Spanish-Language Press
Project Title: Researching 103 Orchard Street: Oral History and Spanish-Language Press
Available: Fall 2010
Project Description: The Lower East Side Tenement Museum uses 97 Orchard Street
as a lens to examine the history of tenement life and the immigrant experience on the
Lower East Side of Manhattan. Because the building's life as a residence terminates in
1935, however, the Museum has been unable to extend its interpretation beyond that
date. In preparation for future exhibit development, the intern will conduct research
on the tenement at 103 Orchard Street, the future home of the Museum's Visitors &
Education Center. As part of this process, the intern will conduct a series of oral histories
with the building's long-time, Spanish-speaking residents. In addition, the intern will
conduct research in New York's Spanish-language press and in the archives of the Center
for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, CUNY. In order to be considered for this
internship, candidates must demonstrate the ability to fluently speak and read Spanish.
Please send a letter of interest and resume or C.V. to David Favaloro, Director of
Curatorial Affairs, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 91 Orchard Street, New York,
NY 10002 or dfavaloro@tenement.org
Commerce and Community on the Lower East Side
Project Title: Minding the Store: Commerce and Community on the Lower East Side
Available: Fall 2010
Project Length: 16 weeks, at least 10 hours a week
Project Description: In order to tell the story of the Lustgarten family's c. 1890 kosher butcher shop at
97 Orchard Street, the Tenement Museum seeks an intern to conduct research in the
Yiddish-language press. To conduct this research, the project intern must demonstrate a
facility reading Yiddish. During the course of this project, the intern will search late-19th
and early-20th century Yiddish language newspapers such as the Jewish Daily Forward
the intern will search turn-of the-20th century papers like the Yidishe Tageblat (Jewish
Daily News) and the Forverts (Jewish Daily Forward) for information about kosher
butchers and issues relating to kosher butchers on New York's Lower East Side, as well
as information about 97 Orchard Street, its shops, and its residents. The intern will
produce a written report detailing the results of the research.
Please send a letter of interest and resume or C.V. to David Favaloro, Director of
Curatorial Affairs, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 91 Orchard Street, New York,
NY 10002 or dfavaloro@tenement.org
Commerce and Community on the Lower East Side
Project Title: Minding the Store: Commerce and Community on the Lower East Side
Available: Fall 2010
Project Length: 16 weeks, at least 10 hours a week
Project Description: The project intern will conduct research dedicated to the
development of the Tenement Museum's next planned exhibit, Minding the Store:
Commerce and Community on the Lower East Side. Research tasks will include
searching NYC business directories, immigrant memoirs, historical photographs, Board
of Health Reports, among others. The intern will produce a written report detailing the
results of the research.
Please send a letter of interest and resume or C.V. to David Favaloro, Director of
Curatorial Affairs, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 91 Orchard Street, New York,
NY 10002 or dfavaloro@tenement.org
