* The AAA Summer Internship Program will now be held every other year and will resume again in 2025. The internships following that will occur in 2027, 2029, and so on. We will begin accepting applications for the AAA Summer Internship again at the beginning of 2025.
The American Anthropological Association offers internship opportunities for talented anthropology students every other year as they pursue their professional goals and aspirations. Internships are six weeks in length and usually extend from mid-June through mid-July. The Association provides housing and a meal/travel stipend.
All U.S. and international undergraduate students that are current juniors or seniors at the time of application are eligible to apply for the program.
Interns will spend approximately 40 percent of their time working onsite at the AAA offices in Arlington, VA, and the other 60 percent of their time working on-site at one of two locations described below: The Naval History & Heritage Command and The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. AAA on-site activities will include researching membership trends in the AAA, drafting text for Anthropology News (AN) and other activities as assigned.
Please contact us if you have questions or comments.
Learn more about previous interns, Jeannette Lombardi and Kayla Stevens, in “This Interning Life,” a piece they wrote for Anthropology News. Learn about the incredible students who have been AAA interns in the past in our AAA Internship Hall of Fame.
Thanks to the support of our members and a remarkably generous gift pledged by former AAA President, Dr. Louise Lamphere, the Association can proudly offer The Louise Lamphere Internship Program for generations to come.
“Since its inception, summer interns have been excited by what they have learned about the AAA and the skills they have obtained in contact with museum and heritage professionals. The program has proved to be an important pathway for anthropology undergraduates to explore anthropology as practiced ‘on the ground‘.” – Dr. Louise Lamphere
Partnerships
The Naval History & Heritage Command (NHHC), located on the historic Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC is the official program of the Depart of the Navy. The NHHC is home to the Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB) which serves to manage, research, conserve, and interpret the Navy’s collection of sunken and terrestrial military craft. This includes over 2,500 shipwrecks and 17,000 aircraft wrecks dispersed around the globe. The NHHC Underwater Archaeology Branch serves four main functions: public education and outreach, artifact conservation and curation, archaeological and historical research, and policy development and cultural resource management.
Interns can expect to work on tasks such as: Preparing, undertaking, or following up on field investigations; Conducting extensive archaeological and historical research at local and national archives; Preparing, reviewing, editing or preparing reports; Conserving and cataloging artifacts; Assisting with artifact inventory, management, and loan programs; Developing a photo database of past field projects; Participating in public outreach and education initiatives such as tours, lectures, and presentations; Creating public outreach and education materials such as blogs and brochures.
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is a research center of the Smithsonian Institution. Their mission is to “promote greater understanding and sustainability of cultural heritage across the United States and around the world through research, education, and community engagement.” Their major activities are the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, maintaining our extensive archival collection, and special projects and programs on cultural heritage, preservation, presentation, and sustainability.
The intern projects may center on production assistance during the last week of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and follow-up with program participants and documentation; sales, marketing, and licensing support with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings; work with archival processing of collections; or assistance with educational outreach and research projects.