Thanks to external funding, the British Library is pleased to be able to offer an internship in the Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts section of the Western Heritage Department, for doctoral and post-doctoral students in History, Art History, Medieval Language or Literature or another relevant subject.

Large zoo-anthropomorphic initial from the Historia naturalis of Pliny the Elder, Arundel MS 98, f. 85v

The focus of the internship will be to enhance our Explore Archives and Manuscripts online catalogue, by creating or enriching catalogue entries for medieval manuscripts and publicising them in blog posts and other interpretative material. The intern will assist curators working on The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200. This may involve writing or researching short descriptions of manuscripts and groups of manuscripts. The intern will be involved in others aspects of the work of the Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts section, including responding to enquiries and providing talks for students and visitors, thereby gaining insight into various curatorial duties and aspects of collection care. During the internship at the British Library, the intern will enjoy privileged access to printed and manuscript research material, and will work alongside specialists with wide-ranging and varied expertise.

This internship is designed to provide an opportunity for the intern to develop research skills and expertise in medieval history and manuscripts, and in presenting manuscripts to a range of audiences. Previous interns have given feedback that they felt a valued member of the team, gained professional confidence and developed their career by carrying out a ‘real’ job with specific duties.

The programme is only open to students who are engaged actively in research towards, or have recently completed a PhD in a subject area relevant to the study of medieval manuscripts and who have a right to work in the UK full time.

The term of internship is full time (36 hours per week over 5 days) for 6 months. The salary is £9.75 per hour, which is the current London Living Wage. The internship will start in July 2017 or as soon as relevant security checks have been completed.

To apply, please visit www.bl.uk/careers.

Applicants are asked to include answers to the following questions within their Supporting Statement:

1. Please give examples of your experience in cataloguing medieval manuscripts. 2. Please provide examples of your experience in writing about your research or about manuscripts for a general audience.

Closing Date: 1 May 2017

Interviews will be held on 19 May. The selection process may include questions about the date and origin of a particular manuscript to be shown at the interview.

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

 

Part of the Polonsky Digitisation Project

Supported by