Past Matters: Celebrating the Preservation Scholars Program

In the summer of 2026, the Friends of the THC were thrilled to welcome eight bright and enthusiastic students to the latest cohort of the Preservation Scholars Program. Launched in 2007, the program is a 10-week, paid, summer internship placement by the FTHC within the Texas Historical Commission (THC). As we celebrate the program’s continued growth, we’d like to highlight some of the memorable experiences that we shared with our most recent interns.

This summer our interns:

  • Met one-on-one with 50+ staff from 9 THC Divisions and departments
  • Visited with preservation professionals from 15 different local, state, and national programs
  • Experienced 10 museums, archives, labs, collections, libraries and archeological digs
  • Viewed 6 historic Texas Courthouses
  • Walked 4 Texas Main Street cities
  • Toured state historic sites from the Oklahoma border down through south central Texas

And if that wasn’t exciting enough, the interns each completed projects ranging from digitally mapping Texas Treasure Business Award winners to cataloging a collection of 78 RPMs. We are so privileged that our agency is benefitting from their hard work this summer. If you are interested in supporting the program, you can learn more here.

And we are thrilled to say that applications are open through January 21st for the 2027 Cohort of Preservation Scholars! If you know a student who may be interested in the program please pass along the details to them. Visit our webpage to learn more about the program here.

We look forward to working with another fantastic cohort of Scholars soon!