The Roman Society Museum Internship Bursary Report: Corbridge Roman Site

The Roman Society Museum Internship Bursary Report: Corbridge Roman Site

I am extremely grateful to have received a bursary from the Roman Society, which enabled me to complete a fortnight long internship with Corbridge Roman Site. I am a Classics Undergraduate at Durham University and completed the placement between my first and second years. The opportunity was both enjoyable and immensely valuable to me.

During my time at the site I worked primarily with Frances McIntosh, Curator of Roman Collections. She asked me to focus my attentions on the education facilities offered by the museum, and, using my previous experience working with education departments in museums, think of areas which could be improved. As there was no budget for this project, I was required to carry out these improvements myself using the resources which were already available at Corbridge. The education facilities already offered were a ‘Children’s Area’ consisting of colouring sheets, a wordsearch, a book box, and some fancy dress items. The site also offered a simple ‘Roaming Romans’ trail, and an archery activity. Frances particularly emphasised the need for a new site trail which was similar in format and content to the official site trails produced by English Heritage, which are offered by the nearby Chesters Roman Fort and Housesteads Roman Fort. In addition to this project I was asked to help with the day to day tasks necessary to run the museum.

In order to complete this project I spent some time getting to know detailed information about the museum and the site. This allowed me to begin to consider how some of Corbridge’s more unusual and memorable features could be better brought to the attention of children. On a personal level, I also found it incredibly interesting to gain an in depth knowledge and understanding of a site. Using this information I created a variety of activities, including two trails, a ‘Make Your Own Roman Snake Bracelet’ craft sheet, and a ‘True or False?’ game. I made a conscious effort to target some of these activities at older children, who, I had been told, were often interested in the resources already offered, but found them too easy. The pool of worksheets I created was intended as a resource for the front of house staff, so that they could choose which activities they offered based on each worksheet’s success, and because they wanted tobring some variety to the ‘Children’s Area’. These worksheets, in particular the trails, will hopefully be introduced next year, once they have been approved by English Heritage.

As part of this project I was asked to revamp the ‘Children’s Area’. I reorganised the activity drawers to use the space more economically, I remade some of the labels and made sure that they were attached securely to their respective activity boxes, and I redesigned the wall display. In addition to these minor changes, I rebranded the area as ‘The Workshop’ to link it to the remains of Roman workshops onsite. During this redecoration I found a laminated sign advertising an ‘I like…Museums’ activities backpackcontaining ‘Explorer Eddie the Museum Teddy’. This was a resource which children could borrow for two hours for a returnable deposit of five pounds. I enquired about this, and found that the service was still running, but that the backpacks were very rarely asked for by visitors. When I looked at them I found that they were in excellent condition. I therefore used a section of the display to focus on advertising the backpacks, hoping that, with clearer information, they would prove more popular.

During the placement I gained a better understanding of how English Heritage is run, and the roles played by curators within the organisation. I visited Chesters Roman Fort to help Frances locate some artefacts which were part of the Clayton Collection displayed there. This allowed me to see how a larger English Heritage site was run, and helped me to understand the problems encountered when curating collections held across multiple locations. Frances also took me to the York office, where I sat in on a meeting concerning plans for future events and coordination between English Heritage departments in the North. This gave me an insight into English Heritage as a large organisation, and how it is managed. These visits, in addition to helping with the daily management of the Corbridge museum, truly helped me to appreciate the many different aspects of working as a curator with English Heritage.

The internship will prove invaluable to not only my undergraduate studies, but also my pursuit of a career in museums and heritage, and my placement has been particularly relevant to my interest in education within the sector. This experience would not have been possible without the help of the Roman Society Bursary, and I would like to say a very particular thank you to Frances McIntosh, all the staff at the Corbridge Roman Site, and English Heritage for making me feel so valued and welcome, and for allowing me to enjoy and learn so much from my time with them.

Emily Tilley