![\"Ellie](\"https:\/\/news.dorsetforyou.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/files\/2018\/04\/Ellie-in-repository-Oct-2017-225x300.jpg\")
I\u00a0completed a week-long\u00a0work experience placement at\u00a0Dorset History Centre, discovering the archives and how they are managed. As this was the first time I had visited\u00a0I didn’t have a clear idea of what was stored and available for public use. Over the course of the week\u00a0I had the chance to experience many different aspects of the service, including the production of documents, where I collected them from the repositories for people to look at in the search room.<\/p>\n
To fully understand the role of the History Centre, I used\u00a0material from the collections to research Thomas Hardy’s family history. As well as this, I was shown how to handle documents with care and gained an understanding of the importance of their preservation. I enjoyed working with Jenny, the archive Conservator, when I was cleaning specific documents and then repairing them.\u00a0I had no idea how crucial the upkeep of archival material is and that this could be done! It also showed me that paper is rather susceptible to standard staples after a few years, and that brass clips will definitely better preserve collections!<\/p>\n
I also got to try my hand at cataloguing new accessions, which involved describing and labelling\u00a0them to make them more accessible for public and legal use. I was surprised by\u00a0the time that it takes to go through each box of material, especially considering that there are tens of thousands of boxes in the repositories! I was given the chance to try the reprographics aspect of the job as well, digitising documents I had selected for an upcoming social media campaign. This\u00a0included\u00a0items such as recipe books from the 1800s and a travel journal from William John Bankes.<\/p>\n
An inspiring experience<\/h2>\n
My time at Dorset History Centre has inspired me\u00a0to study history at university. The experience\u00a0gave\u00a0me an insight to opportunities available after my degree\u00a0and showed\u00a0me how useful the archives will be when writing my dissertation! It also helped me to develop my archival skills set and knowledge of work that goes on behind the scenes. Additionally\u00a0I saw first-hand\u00a0the work that goes into a Heritage Lottery funded\u00a0project\u00a0through my work with the Bankes Archive, whilst discovering the function of an archive as a whole.<\/p>\n
Ellie, work experience student<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our recent work experience student, Ellie, shares her reflections on a week working in the county archives based at Dorset History Centre. Discovering archives I\u00a0completed a week-long\u00a0work experience placement at\u00a0Dorset History Centre, discovering the archives and how they are managed. As this was the first time I had visited\u00a0I didn’t have a clear idea of… Read more Work experience in the archives<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[5,42,8],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":373,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions\/373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}