Oldest Internship Program in the Country?

by Karl Kurtz

University of Washington Professor Emeritus David Olson recently told me that the university's legislative internship program, which he directs, was first created by the political scientist Hugh Bone in 1953 and has continued at the state capitol now for 54 years. In fact, though, dating the start of the program is a bit confusing.  An obituary for Hugh Bone says it started 1956, but the caption in this photo of interns in 1955 says that it was the first class.

Whether the starting date was 1953, 1955 or 1956, that's a remarkable run for an internship program.  Is this the oldest continuous legislative internship program in the country?  The American Political Science Association's Congressional Fellowship Program, in which I participated as a graduate student, started in 1953, but I've never heard of a state legislative program that dates back that far.  If you know of one that's older, please post a comment below or send us an email message.

Comments

[Tim Hodson]

A few years back I asked the intern coordinators panel at the Annual Meeting about the oldest program. It wasn't a comprehensive study but the consenus was that Washington's was the oldest. The California Assembly Fellowship Program started in 1957 though the origins can be traced to a conference hosted by UC Berkeley in 1955.