CRDIP Historian: Homestead National Monument- AmeriCorps Elligible

Summary: American Conservation Experience, a Non-Profit Conservation Corps, in partnership with the National Park Service is seeking a candidate for a Historian Position with the CRDIP Program willing to dedicate 11 weeks in support of the National Park Service at Homestead National Monument of America in Beatrice, NE.

This excellent opportunity is ideal for an enthusiastic young professional who is deeply committed to historical research. Applicants must have strong interest in Women's history.  

Start: June, 2020

End: August, 2020 11 project weeks from start date

Duration: 11 weeks minimum commitment required

The Cultural Resources Diversity Internship Program(CRDIP) is a special professional development program offering that supports undergraduate and graduate students, from underrepresented populations, who wish to gain exposure to and experience in the historic preservation/cultural resources fields of work. Applicants must be 18-35 and either A) in pursuit of a higher education degree or B) still be within two years of graduation from a degree program. 

Check out CRDIP.org for more information on the program.

 

Project Website: For more information regarding theHomestead National Monument of America, or the National Park Service, please visit:http://www.nps.gov/HOME. For more information on ACE, please visit:www.usaconservation.org.

Housing:Park housing is provided at no cost to the intern.

Project Background: Historians have noted that the Homestead Act of 1862 was remarkably democratic in its wording and legislation. It was the first federal law in the United States to reference women and directly allow them to own land - a major step for women's rights, decades before suffrage. The story of Homestead National Monument of America is closely connected to the story of women's suffrage-most of the states that had full voting rights before the 19th Amendment were under the Homestead Act.

Some of the most heavily homesteaded states corroborate with the earliest adopters of women's suffrage: Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, South Dakota, Kansas, and Oklahoma. (Nebraska, the most heavily homesteaded state, allowed women to vote for president before the 19th Amendment, but not full voting rights). These Western and Great Plains states clearly illustrate a link between homesteading and the women's suffrage movement.

Project Goals:The goals for the project are to provide the participant the chance to work, learn, and network with historians, curators, archivists, and others in the field to develop and implement this project. The goals of the project are to locate, identify, and chronicle women homesteaders and descendants of homesteaders who were involved in women's suffrage.

Position Description: The ACE member will cross-reference primary source material corroborating suffrage efforts and events in a given location - articles, publications, conventions, elections, and campaigns involving women, et cetera. Then, using the Homestead Records and General Land Office Records, the individual could determine which (if any) participants were homesteaders. Deliverables of this project may include one or more of the following: shared content on the NPS main website, an article or short documentary film produced in conjunction with park staff on women homesteaders and suffrage, podcast episodes, oral histories, and digitized primary source documents and images.

Qualifications: The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate their skills and experience through their resume and application and be in pursuit of obtaining or within two years of having obtained a Bachelor/Master/PhD degree in history, anthropology, cultural resource management, archaeology, public history, or other relevant field.