In June, we were joined by Bia for a month’s work experience. She’s now three weeks into that placement, and we’ve asked her to write us a blog about her experience so far…
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On Monday 24 June, I started the first week of a month-long work experience placement at the Dorset History Centre. After graduating last summer with a History degree, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the heritage sector and so when I saw that the Dorset History Centre were offering this placement, I jumped at the chance to gain some practical experience. With the sector being so broad, I thought this opportunity would be the perfect way to find out more about a career in an archive.
That first week showed me that I was right as I have been able to experience a variety of jobs and tasks. In just one week, I learnt about different kinds of hazards to archive collections and the preventive conservation strategies which can help Jess, the archive Conservator; I shadowed the Public Services team, seeing the process of how items are requested, found in the repository and brought to the public to be explored in the search room; I digitised index cards to help show more-easily what is held at DHC; and I catalogued a set of triacetate photographs of Stinsford Park from 1955.
A task I have particularly enjoyed has been cataloguing items from the Melcombe Bingham and Hilton Women’s Institute and the Winterborne Whitechurch Women’s Institute. I was able to see the committee minutes, attendance registers, account books and letters from the groups all the way from 1920 to 1982, and learnt about the different information which needs to be recorded to ensure they can be easily found on the online catalogue and in the repository. It was interesting to see how the kinds of activities and events recorded in these documents changed between the two time periods as they reflected the changing social ideas and political events which occurred over this time.
My favourite item that I catalogued and was able to look through was the scrapbook that the Melcombe Bingham and Hilton Women’s Institute produced for a national competition between WI groups in 1959. As I am from this area of Dorset, I loved seeing photos of how the places I know looked in the 1950s, as well as the detailed illustrations done of the different activities they got up to every month – it seems like the group had a lot of fun and I was pleased to see that they achieved joint-second place for the competition, winning points for originality of their scrapbook design and novelty of their WI programme!
Towards the end of the first week, I also started to look ahead and plan for a photography exhibition that will be taking place in August, in collaboration with the Dorchester Camera Club. In my second week, I have been searching through the Dorset Photography Archive held at DHC, looking at possible themes that can be drawn out and stories that can be told about Dorset summers past through these photographs. In the remaining time I’m at DHC, I will be learning more about how to curate an exhibition, exploring what makes an exhibition engaging as well as how to best present the photos selected and use an exhibition space effectively.
As you can see, I have already been able to get involved with and learn about so many different aspects of the Dorset History Centre and I look forward to seeing what the rest of the month will bring!