Internship Program
A nonprofit fundraiser supporting
Dorothy Molter MuseumHelp support our Small Museum Internship opportunities this coming season by funding staff housing!
$220
raised by 5 people
$3,000 goal
New update
We are optimistic in meeting our fundraising goal to 100% cover our 2026 intern housing expense with your help! What if we generate more than that? Great question!
We will apply all funds raised for this cause to our internship program for 2026 that includes:
- Staff training day-trip into the BWCAW to develop an understanding and empathy for both Dorothy Molter's life as well as the many BW trippers who visit our museum each summer, and to discover the incredible natural resource that IS the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
- Staff training site visits to regional organizations including the Ely-Winton Historical Museum, International Wolf Center, North American Bear Center, Soudan Underground Mine State Park and Bois Fort Heritage Museum
- Attend professional development events in the Ely Area and partner organization events
- Materials and tools for internship success including print materials, digital tools and uniforms
One of the meaningful and powerful ways that the Museum is able to preserve and interpret Northwoods wilderness heritage through learning opportunities inspired by Dorothy Molter is through our Small Museum Management [paid] Internship.
Each year, we hire 2 to 4 students who have a desire to learn more about the industry or are in undergrad and masters programs in museum studies, historic preservation or similar, and provide them with real-world experience and learning opportunities.
Securing summer workforce housing in Ely has been a big challenge for several years - both due to a lack of available housing and the increased cost of living - and by providing housing we are removing a significant barrier to applicants to our program.
By providing free housing and a livable wage, our interns can focus on being productive and attentive.
Over the past four summers, in addition to working with the public, these young professionals have completed the following projects at the Museum:
- Cataloged all pages and images in Dorothy’s nursing school journal
- Completed an Accessibility Grant Project proposal, which was funded to establish a quiet area with sensory garden and pre/during visit sensory tools for visitors
- Cataloged all of Dorothy’s books individually with title, author, book info, inscriptions and imagery
- Updated and presented History You Can Taste root beer history and making programming in collaboration with the Ely Folk School
- Monitored and created content for Museum social media platforms
- Began a photo collection project to identify people in photos and update image descriptions
- Began an archive collection project to update content descriptions and re-digitize files
- Processing of donated historical items related to Dorothy Molter
- Creation of a new kitchen exhibit in the Winter Cabin for 2026
- Drafting an online process for crowdsourcing the transcribing Dorothy's guest journals to make them digitally searchable and publicly available
Through the Dorothy Molter Museum's SMM Internship we are quite literally leading the next generation of Northwoods stewards to make a significant contribution toward a better world through Dorothy’s legacy of perseverance, integrity and generosity.
As much as the Dorothy Molter Museum is part of Dorothy’s legacy, this internship program is all of our shared legacy.