Erica spent a week with the Archives and Heritage Team in July. Find out more about her experience in the blog below.

My work experience at Staffordshire History Centre has been really enjoyable as every day brought something new, ranging from practical tasks to theory/writing based activities. The staff were so welcoming, and each department made me feel part of their team. I felt comfortable enough to ask as many questions as I wanted without risk of judgement.

So, on Monday firstly meeting up with my work experience partner Dee we had an induction and welcome to the facility getting a tour of our workspace for the week getting shown where to put our bags, make cups of tea etc. Later in the morning we did some conservation work with the Conservator, making envelopes and boxes for the documents in the collections. I felt a sense of achievement knowing that the boxes I had produced would be used by the History Centre. In the afternoon we worked with the Learning Officer creating the foundations for an interactive activity for a Family Fun Day the History Centre team were planning. I used Canva to make the ideas visual. The task was both practical and computer-based which suited me.

On Tuesday Dee and I went off site to visit the Museum Collection stores. Seeing all the artefacts up close and handling some (with gloves on of course) was incredibly interesting as we were literally seeing the past. We went on a tour of both units with a group of volunteers, and members of the staff team spoke about the artefacts and the background to the Collection Stores and how they are organised. In the afternoon we worked on a team-based task completing condition reports for artefacts going on loan to other organisations, taking photos and recording the dimensions of the objects to ensure their safety when travelling out of the trusty hands of the History Centre which was fun.

On Wednesday I worked with the museum collection, handling and re packing objects from previous exhibitions and writing down their individual reference numbers to keep them appropriately arranged. Later I finished the interactive activity and worked with the Learning Officer to test it with the History Centre Welcome Volunteers and get their feedback.

On Thursday I joined one of the volunteer research groups and worked through a selection of Irish immigrant documents, placing them on Excel spreadsheets and saving them to the system to enable the public to access them. In the afternoon I worked with the Digital Officer to research photographs in preparation for an exhibition based on the 1920s which opens later in 2025. We identified the photos and wrote down their correct reference numbers to assist the exhibition team with the exhibition content. Dee and I also made the appropriate tweaks to our interactive activity surrounding the life of domestic servants and presented the finished activity ahead of the event in August.

On Friday I worked with the History Centre Assistants in the Research Room, producing documents from the strong rooms and learning how orders were processed start to finish. Later in the day I had a conversation with the Engagement and Access Manager about careers in archives and museums. This was very interesting and provided a helpful insight into all types of careers surrounding heritage.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my week’s work experience at the Staffordshire History Centre and hope to return soon either as work experience or simply as a member of the public interested in the site. Thank you!