Internship Grants

Nate Brother is a graduate student at Virginia Tech, studying history. He will intern at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he will experience of front-line interpretive operations by working alongside park staff, including greeting and orienting visitors to the park, staffing a visitor center desk and serving as a representative of the National Park Service, and talking to visitors on topics including the history of the battlefields and historic resources at the park, the causes and consequences of the American Civil War, and Civil War memory and commemoration.

Samantha Scott is a rising junior at Virginia Tech, dual majoring in History and History Education. This summer, she will be interning at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond. Scott’s historical interests include early America, Appalachia, women’s history, and the American Civil War. As an aspiring educator, she hopes that her time at the VMHC will strengthen her research skills and deepen her understanding of both museum operations and Civil War history. 

Olivia Tingle, an undergraduate student at Virginia Tech, will work at the Booker T. Washington National Monument in Franklin County, Va. Tingle’s  work will include staffing the visitor center information desk to orient visitors, answer questions, provide park brochures, and assist with the park’s Junior Ranger program; and developing and conducting a 45-minute walking tour of the Burroughs plantation discussing the ways Booker T. Washington’s life as an enslaved boy here impacted his later legacy. 

Sterling Bryant is a Graduate Student in History at Virginia Tech. He researches immigration and labor in the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. Bryant graduated from undergrad at Virginia Tech in May 2024, and will be graduating with a Master’s in May 2026. Additionally, Bryant is a veteran who served in the United States Navy from 2013 through 2020. He was an intern at the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Park and enjoyed working with the general public and improving his public speaking. 

Conrad Hamm is a senior at Virginia Tech, majoring in history, and planning to graduate in May 2026. Hamm was an intern at Appomattox Court House, and he was able to further his knowledge of the American Civil War, conduct research, and collaborate with other internees. Hamm said he is grateful for this opportunity as he has a strong and dedicated passion for history.

Ben Warburton is a rising senior double majoring in History and Industrial Engineering who interned at The Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond.  "I had a fantastic Summer with the Virginia Museum of history and culture! The research team was extremely welcoming, and I was given all the assistance I needed to complete my responsibilities. What's more, whenever I came up with a new idea, I was able to pursue it, whether it was ordering new material to the library or reaching out digitally to other archives across the country. The chance to work firsthand with Civil War materials, both obscure and famous, was one of the highlights of the experience. That, and the museum cafe."

Madison Smith is a Graduate Research Assistant with the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies and a graduate student in the History M.A. program at Virginia Tech, expected to graduate in May 2026. In 2025, she was an intern at the Salem Museum in Salem, Virginia, working on a major project exploring daily life during the post-Civil War and Reconstruction Era through the lens of a single family. A graduate of Roanoke College, Smith was excited to once again collaborate with the museum staff and continue developing her skills as both a student and an emerging historian.