Applications for our fall 2026 internship, HIST593, are now open!
How to Apply
The Southern Oral History Program (SOHP) is currently accepting applications for our Fall 2026 undergraduate internship. The SOHP’s internship program provides experiential education in the intellectual, practical, and curatorial work of oral history. Students must apply for the program; upon acceptance, they will be enrolled in HIST 593 for three credit hours. The course will meet at the Center for the Study of the American South on Fridays from 10:10 am–1:00 pm during the Fall 2026 semester.
Students will work as researchers, collaborators, and curators with the Southern Oral History Program. They will learn about oral history as both a method and a tradition—studying interviewing techniques, fieldwork ethics, and the interpretive frameworks that shape oral history as a practice.
This semester will center on a collaborative oral history project with the UNC Campus Y, in collaboration with Journalism faculty member Erin Siegal McIntyre. This project will explore the history, impact, and community of the Campus Y through oral history interviews and storytelling. Students will contribute to documenting the organization’s history and the experiences of people involved with the Campus Y, while also thinking about how oral history can be shared with the public through writing, audio, and digital storytelling.
Past internships have focused on topics such as labor and worker rights, textile history, racial justice, public health, and Southern identity. Students will explore how oral history intersects with social movements, memory work, and storytelling in the U.S. South, and how these narratives are shaped by race, class, gender, and geography.
As part of the internship, students will also:
- Conduct background research using archival materials
- Develop and refine interview guides
- Conduct and analyze in-depth oral history interviews
- Learn the basics of public history and digital storytelling
- Work collaboratively on a community-based oral history project
Please note:
Some work will be required outside of regular class time. This includes scheduling and conducting oral history interviews with individuals and community partners. Students should feel comfortable reaching out to potential narrators, including cold-calling, to complete their semester-long projects.
Throughout the semester, students will consider not only how interviews help explore the past, but also how people actively construct meaning in the present through memory, narrative, and dialogue.
Application Instructions
Submit:
- A one-page letter of interest
- A resume
- Contact information for one faculty reference
Deadline: 5pm April 17, 2026
Email materials to: Phillip MacDonald at ptmacdon@unc.edu
Subject line: SOHP Fall 2026 Internship [your last name]
Example: SOHP Fall 2026 Internship MacDonald
Questions to Consider in Your Letter of Interest:
- Describe your interest in oral history
- How would an internship at SOHP apply to your studies and future goals?
- What skills and experiences do you bring that would be beneficial to this project and to SOHP?