Internship Grants
Summer 2026 internship update from Virginia Tech student Samantha Scott
I had the best summer at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond! During my internship, I conducted online archival research, worked hands-on with primary sources, participated in the museum’s special events and teachers' institutes, and traveled to several historical sites with staff. This experience has strengthened my research skills, given me a better understanding of large-scale museum operations, and deepened my passion for studying history and desire to become an educator. I’m so grateful for the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies and the VMHC Research Library staff for the opportunity.
Summer 2026 internship update from Virginia Tech student Nate Brother
This summer, I served as an interpretive intern at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park. This park preserves four civil war battlefields, and several other sites important to the Civil war era. During my internship I worked at the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center, the Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Center, Chatham (a plantation site built in the eighteenth-century), and the Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson Death Site. Working at these sites allowed me to talk to a variety of visitors, from people with little knowledge of the Civil War to people deeply invested in the history of the Civil War Era. Through this internship, I strengthened my ability to adapt my tours and presentation to the knowledge-level and interests of these various audiences, something that will serve me well in my future career. I also had the opportunity to work with and talk to so many people passionate about the history of the Civil war, from scholars of the era to local community members deeply invested in the park. Thank you to the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies for this great opportunity!
Summer 2026 Paid Internship Program:
Three Virginia Tech undergraduate and graduate students were chosen for our 2026 paid internship program. Read more about our 2026 interns here:
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.
Olivia Tingle
