Earlier in the year Dorset History Centre had two work experience students join us for a month. In the second of three blogs they have written, Maddie talks us through her experience…
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As part of my second year of Museum Studies at Reading University, I undertook a work placement at DHC, in particular indexing patient cases from an 1890s Herrison Hospital case book.
It has been fascinating to read about mental health from the perspective of doctors in the 19th century and reassuring to see how much has changed.
While many cases have admittedly been difficult to read (not least because of the handwriting), there have been some lighter moments. William Herbert Poole, for example, liked:
“decking himself with feathers and gewgaws of different sorts – very fond of dancing!”
Gewgaws – a word I now resolve to use at least once a day – refers to trinkets and ornaments that only have value as decoration.
Aside from Herrison, I was provided experience in other aspects of archival work. Sarah and I spent a day cataloguing a donation of Women’s Institute material. This involved separating a mix of documents into their various regions of origin, then organising and recording each document into catalogues. These were then uploaded into the main catalogue of DHC and the documents could be found a home in the repository.
Having just got the hang of dividing documents into folders and sub-folders, I came across an envelope of photographs forebodingly titled ‘Garden party, etc.’. How best to go about organising this? Perhaps they would all be labelled? No, not all of them. On the bright side, amongst bridges, children’s toys and a dog were photographs of a party in a garden helpfully labelled ‘Garden Party’.
As elusive as the content of this album was, it was a good learning point. Common sense is a very useful tool and does need to be applied at times. The envelope could remain as ‘Garden Party, etc.’.
It was in document production that I came to the realisation that I do not do a lot of exercise! Document production involves taking requests from the search-room to the repository upstairs and bringing those requested documents back down again. This sounds easy. It is not, predominantly owing to lesson one of the day: the lift is not to be trusted!
Social media is a scary place. From rarely posting anything to having to write tweets to be posted on DHC’s twitter page – even if only for half a day – was scary. Social media is an important aspect of organisations so of course it was a valuable and worthwhile experience, just, scary – “…but people will read what I’ve written!”
This placement has certainly not been a ‘gewgaw’ to my CV. It has been a very enjoyable experience and has given me an insight into the many varied and complex roles in archives. The knowledge I have gained can be taken forward in my course and doubtlessly beyond, and for this I would like to thank DHC and in particular Maria and Sophie for taking time to provide this placement.
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Maddie has written another blog about some of the more interesting cases in the Herrison records, look out for that blog in the coming months!
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We enjoy introducing young people to the work of the archive and we benefit from having tasks undertaken by short-term placements. We will introduce you to all aspects of our service and provide a varied experience. We hope that after spending time with us you will act as an informed advocate for archives.
Student Placements:
- suitable for undergraduate level or above
- up to three placements for up to four weeks each summer
- this opportunity is popular, to apply please contact our Community Engagement Officer