I applied for the placement at the Fitzwilliam Museum hoping to gain a greater understanding of how the wider public engaged with archaeology. Too much time spent in the libraries and seminar rooms of Oxford had left me feeling slightly bubbled and at a loss when considering my responsibility outside of the university.
During the three-month placement my responsibility was to produce two reports that critically evaluated a temporary display, Bound Together: Leather from Northern Nigeria, and a temporary exhibition, Made in Ancient Egypt. I worked closely with the curators and conducted a series of surveys, interviews, accompanied visits, and creative drawing sessions to assess audience experience and learning. I was fortunate enough to receive the invaluable guidance of Dr Kate Noble and Dr Jo Vine who encouraged me to engage directly with visitors to the museum and helped me to develop the appropriate research methodologies to do so. A key question in both evaluations was whether the aims of the curators had been realised in the experience of visitors to the museum.
Bound Together was the product of a larger research project conducted by the curator, Dr Eva Namusoke, for African Collections Futures. This is a research project developing new approaches to the African and Africa-related objects in the University and forms part of the Collections-Connections-Communities Strategic Research Initiative. Dr Namusoke wanted to produce an exhibition that engaged critically with objects within the collections of the University of Cambridge Museums that originate from the African continent. The interviews I conducted with visitors revealed the value and importance of this work.
I also worked with senior curator, Helen Strudwick, on an evaluation of the Made in Ancient Egypt exhibition. Helen is a very active curator who is keen to see accessibility to museum collections and the stories they widened across multiple communities. In one of my many meetings with Helen, she told me about some of the workshops she had setup at pubs, an unusual place to see museum collections displayed. Made in Ancient Egypt was a multisensory exhibition experience that drew upon the expertise of lighting and sound engineers as well as visual artists to bring the working life of those living in Ancient Egypt to life. My research demonstrated that the exhibition was successful in breaking down traditional accessibility barriers, particularly for visitors with impaired sight or hearing.
I learnt much more than I expected during my placement at the Fitzwilliam and I owe a great deal of gratitude to the wonderful people I met during my work. I encourage anyone who is considering a placement to apply.
