Five years of the Ministry!

You may have noticed that we’ve been a little bit quiet for the last few months, whilst we've still been tweeting and instagramming our ability to keep up with the website has definitely waned. Can you blame us though? When we started the Ministry, we were just two early career museum professionals trying to make sense of work, friends and life in London. Nowadays we found ourselves (dare we say it?) mid-career professionals, our just about. While we don’t talk too much about our work places on the blog itself, in the past two years we’ve been working hard to level up in our respective careers. It’s certainly been a bit of a slog - Kristin has been doing her PhD and recently returned to curatorial work (at the same time!) and Terri has been working her way up to a Collections Manager role in a National.

Since 2012 the Ministry has been our platform to discuss what’s going on in our career-driven and museum-loving world. Five years on in 2017, we find ourselves in a bit of a different position. It’s been a steep learning curve but lots of fun (obvs). Whilst we want to continue to advocate for early career professionals (and in particular getting into museums), our own careers have moved forward and so to our experience of the museum world. Things change, and so now must the Ministry!

Through our blog we will continue to be sassy, opinionated, strong champions of women in museums and collections care - sharing our thoughts through commentary pieces on the blog once a month. On insta and twitter you’ll find our experiences of exhibitions and behind the scenes adventures (so please do follow on those channels!). While our ability to blog  may have dwindled (we don’t want to stress ourselves out too much about posts with our time commitments), our devotion and passion for the industry certainly has not.

So after five years in the blogging game (yes five whole years!) we hope you will continue to follow us on our journey, be inspired, stay motivated and keep on loving museums! Thank you so much to all of our lovely followers who have been there with us along the way. We look forward to many more discussions -  sharing thoughts, ideas and pet peeves for years to come.

The Story so far, advice for students at Goldsmiths

Here at The Ministry we have been big advocates for helping each other out when it comes to getting a step onto the museum jobs ladder. We've even provided some guidance here and spoke at Museum Association events such as Moving on Up on the topic. 

But most recently I was invited back to my old university to tell a group of students from the History department my journey so far, some tips and tricks for getting in and how bloody amazing working in museums is. So I thought i'd continue on this sharing mission by providing access to my talk for Ministry readers. If you want to know more, read on! 

'I am currently the Registrar at the National Army Museum, and with almost ten years experience working in museums  and galleries I have taken on a number of roles in the industry since graduation from Goldsmiths with a BA in History and Anthropology in 2011. From Art technician at Tate to Collections Registration Coordinator at the Science Museum I have overseen large scale installations of exhibitions such as Cosmonauts and travelled the world with objects to ensure their safety and security. In 2012 I co-founded this  blog with Kristin! As you'll know here we aim to provide an irreverent insider’s view into the world of London’s museums and aims to change current perceptions about those working in museums.  Thanks to this I have been featured in the Guardian 's Young, Early, Emerging series and have written and presented for the Museums Association and Collections Trust. 

But what is the role of a registrar in a museum? Well it’s a bit of a mixed bag (readers can find more here) primarily I am responsible for implementing policies and procedures, adhering to national and international laws and guidelines all relating to the care of cultural objects. It doesn’t always seem to be that fun or exciting but actually a large part of my day is spent with objects of national importance, I arrange for them to go on loan or holiday  to other museums. I manage the paperwork and relationships  when the museum wants to acquire a new object and on occasion I ensure the  legal and ethical practice is adhered to when disposing of objects. Day to day my job can be incredibly varied, I can be asking the home office for permission to transport a live firearm one minute,  and the next carefully lugging around paintings in the stores. I’ve been lucky enough  to see Damien Hirst’s shark lifted out of its tank, hand carry an early calculating machine (that looked like a bomb!) across to Germany and install the first woman in space’s flight suit and Churchill’s onesie. I often say, I’m blessed to be able to touch what people are often told not to – but while wearing gloves of course!

I studied History and Anthropology joint honours BA at Goldsmiths and was fortunate to get a paid job within the museum sector only a couple of months after graduating. The summer before landing that position however was a grueling slog, I was in four jobs trying to pay for my rent and get some experience. I gained the experience through a volunteer placement in the Horniman’s collection stores and an internship at Orleans House Gallery in Richmond, to fund this I worked long evening shifts at Waitrose and in the National Maritime Museum’s retail team at the weekends.

 But, it paid off and led  to me getting the position of collections assistant at the Science Museum. This was a great exploration into the wonderful storage centre that is Blythe House where the Science Museum , British Museum and V&A  currently store their medium sized objects. In this role I learnt the importance of working hard, not only mentally but physically many museums are understaffed and so if you want something moved you have to do it yourself. I undertook a large scale collections move of the prosthetics collection, the torture collection and as whole load of Victorian drugs.  One of the most valuable things I have ever learnt is to always be nice, approachable, and try to be confident. This is key to establishing your network. Many of the people I met in my very first day of working at the Science Museum are still my friends and colleagues now. They have helped me to enhance and grow my career and after leaving my role as collections assistant in 2012 many remembered me and my willingness to work hard when I returned to the institution in 2014.

I have always highly valued the exclusivity of working behind the scenes in the museum and in 2012 I co-founded a blog (with the lovely Kristin you'll know well by now!) to show that this industry isn’t all Indiana Jones and old white men.  Museums workforces are full of young professional women and the stores are brimming with 95% of the collection that is not on display. The founding of this blog has been an invaluable resource; I’ve built up a network online and a name for myself outside of the 9-5. This has granted my opportunities for public speaking, writing and networking far beyond what I could have achieved. It’s been a game changer and made me stand out in interviews and for myself has been a way to digest and better understand the industry.

 Blogging may not be for everyone but social networks have had a huge impact on the industry and how it networks, dedicated discussion groups like Museum Hour on twitter have become a great way to digitally converse with the person who your trying to get employed by. Other groups such as Museum Association, Collections Trust and jiscmail have helped me to establish myself within the industry and taking the opportunities  made available have pushed me further. For example Over the past two years I have been treasurer for the UK Registrars Group, processing all memberships has meant building relationships with other registrars across the UK and internationally.

 I’ve always been driven to work in museums since I was little, grateful for parental trips to the local and free London museums I was able to dream of this career. I didn’t go to a good school, I had to work hard to get to university (gratefully helped by the means tested maintenance grants) and so I’ve had to push to get into this challenging industry. Museums have been hit hard by the cuts to the arts sector in the last ten years and so they are often understaffed or work is project based on short term contracts. Making yourself stand out from the crowd and working hard are key.

Many post grads looking for a career in museums while focus their attention on becoming a curator and miss out huge opportunities by overlooking other collections based roles. The role of the registrar may not seem as exciting as a curatorial position but as a registrar I get to build up an intimate relationship with the objects outside of their historical importance.  I understand their provenance, know every detail about their holidays to other museums and help the objects in their journey within the museum stores or on display. Getting into museum collections work may be a hard slog to begin with, it took alot of volunteering for me to start.

 However, once your in its so worth it, its incredibly rewarding to see an exhibition you have put your blood sweat and tears into open to the public.It’s exciting coming across an object in the stores that represents a huge impact to society, and its pretty damn satisfying getting to  hold onto a tangible piece of history be it the luna lander or a vial of opium.'

Museums are pretty awesome if you're trying to break in check out our links or ask us on twitter @curiositytweet for more advice!

Ministry on the Move: Museum of the History of Science Oxford

We may be suckers for London’s incredible offer but sometimes we do leave the big smoke in search of some of the UK’s other museum treasures, it’s no lie most of our holidays are dominated by a museum loving search. My recent weekend away in Oxford was no different to any other, it was all about museums – and a bit of food and drink too.

Pitt Rivers Museum 

As you’ll be aware Oxford has an incredible amount of richness to offer when it comes to museums, the Ashmolean, The Museum of Oxford and the Bodleian provide a great cultural offer. Then of course there is the Pitt Rivers, as an anthropology graduate and arrow lover (early career projects) the Pitt Rivers often feels like the resting point for my soul, especially as its dark and jam packed with ethnography. Nonetheless, I’m not going to urge you guys to visit,  if you haven’t been already there is no doubt that there is a deep desire to go already and check out the collection of one of the founding fathers of Anthropology.

Oxford University Museum of Natural History

There’s also a lot of time to be had in the Oxford UniversityMuseum of Natural History,   featuring the exciting and expected dinosaur skeletons, some awesome taxidermy and on this occasion we became enthralled with the rock collection. The institution may have been slammed recently for its claim that exhibits are being destroyed due to the lack of UV filters on the glass roof but let’s just remember that this is a very valid and necessary point, increased temperature and sunlight can indeed destroy objects as our conservation friends will tell you so let’s support them in their application to Oxford City Council and increased the awareness of conservation of museum collections!

But today we want to talk to you about the Museum of the Historyof Science. It’s the world’s oldest purpose built museum (1683!) that hosts a stunning collection of objects relating to the history of Science.

Entering the museum is a bit of a maze, as you would suspect Oxford is a pretty busy tourist town and free museums occupy much of their time. However, I was initially pleased to see the front of house staff, under considerable strain from the crowds remain incredibly chipper and welcomed us into the space full of dazzling showcases of sundials, astrolabes and navigation equipment.

Lewis Carroll's wet plate photographic kit

The whole collection is fascinating and luxurious,  but it’s in the basement where the fun really begins. The main room is an ornate cavern with wooden showcases and pink backed cabinets filled with glorious scientific specimens including ornate drug jars telescopes and experimenting kits. It’s in this gallery that you too find objects belonging to Lewis Carroll and Einstein. In a showcase you’ll see a wooden box of vials and bottles – a wet plate photographic equipment box belonging to Lewis Carroll whose interest in photography included photographing family friend Alice Lidell the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. On the wall sits Einsteins blackboard (so iconic it has its own Wikipedia page!) the board of which was used when he was lecturing in Oxford, obviously their use is for short term documentation of presentations yet when already a celebrity Einstein came to oxford in 1931 it was preserved and acquired by the Museum of the History of Science Oxford and has become their most iconic objects.

Museum of the History of Science 

But one of my favourite things about this museum is that they recognise that they may be a little inaccessible for many and thus since 1995 have been creating virtual versions of their exhibitions for those who are unable to visit. Firstly, this is a bloody lovely thing to do and secondly, I think it’s a really great way to preserve temporary exhibitions for future research and reflection. I particularly like The Star Holder: Lives of the Astrolabe exhibition 

If you’re heading out west definitely stop by this great City for a day or a whole weekend and take  time to visit the great museums it offers. If you do get a chance to visit also head to Beerd for great pizzas and craft beer. But if not, don’t worry, be sure to check out the online exhibitions from the Museum of the History of Science

!

Thoughts on museum blogging - be kind to yourself

Back in May we co-hosted Museum Hour with the wonderful Tincture of Museums – go check out her page it’s a museum loving feast with an eye to autism in museum.

One of the biggest concerns for those who wanted to start blogging was about finding the time to do so. In one sense this was reassuring as it meant that there were so many of you out there who have something to say about museums and want to get your voice heard. Yet  in another,  it was concerning to hear that museum lovers felt the need to put themselves under some pressure to get access to the museum blogging community, with the strains of temporary work, low paid and more competitive job market many are seeking to blog as a way to stand out from the crowd. In some respect blogging has been helpful to us but in others it has been a hindrance and why you’ll rarely hear me speak about my place of work. Blogging is ultimately meant to be an enjoyable and loveable experience.

We’re not going to lie, here at The Ministry we know how hard it is to keep on writing, finding content and putting it all together into a presentable format is time consuming. You’re probably aware that I work in a national museum as a sort of exhibition registrar and Kristin is studying for her PhD, so sometimes we do go a little bit quiet on the blog. It’s not because we’ve fallen out of love with doing so it’s just because sometimes our work life and personal life can be a bit more demanding that we had expected.

Museums are wonderful places that are often are static in their displays and in other times so fast moving that it’s hard to keep up. Working in South Kensington I often promise myself that I will visit that gallery/new exhibition across the road in my lunchbreak. Sometimes I do manage to venture out, other times I completely fail and realise I haven’t seen a new gallery in my own museum since it opened two years ago because it’s not on a route to a meeting room.

Then there’s the upkeep on social media, I do try to keep quite active personal profiles and keep up with what’s going on in the museum world. But often whole conversations about museum life go amiss on my timeline because I’ve been stuck in a two hour meeting or a cinema and suddenly we’re left feeling like I’m  the worst museum blogger because I haven’t engaged.

Sometimes it feels like the museum world is guilty of other museum enthusiasts a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out). There is now so much content and so much opinion that it can feel like an exhibition has opened, its content debated and closed within a heartbeat and you’ve missed it all. Branding on marketing posters rate permanent galleries as immediate ‘must sees’ and exhibitions posters now have stickered reminders of ‘last few weeks’. The countdown begins and suddenly you’re reminded more of what you haven’t seen than what you have.

Perhaps we’re not giving ourselves enough time to appreciate that museums are often little pockets where time can stand still. Often new permanent galleries are made to last upwards of thirty years, just because your friend or colleague has gone to comment on it doesn’t mean that you’re missing out. You’ll just be there when the crowds have calmed and it really can be that location of sanctuary that we often speak about.

As for social media, it’s a never ending stream and we’re never going to be able to catch every conversation, every debate and every single comment, but check in times like museum hour really help to focus attention. It’s great to spend the 8-9pm on a Monday engaging with the conversation and feeling like you are part of the community for the hour or a couple of minutes of it. Then there are great functions like storify that many bloggers use to capture the information that interests them into one stream. It’s a great way of reading up on the tweet s that has just disappeared into your timeline.

Perhaps this article is more of a reminder to be more gentle on myself. Sometimes it’s more important to leave the office at lunchtimes but sometimes you have to let life get in your way and miss out on the latest trend. I hope it can serve as guidance for us museum lovers and part time bloggers to not put too much pressure on ourselves and just take a moment. Blogging is there to enjoy and not to encapsulate at the end of the day most of us are not getting paid for it! Blogging is not a race to a the next opening, take some time to enjoy reading our fellows interpretations and thoughts or take advantage of museums online accessibility and when you have a moment pop in.

But remember when you are there physically or digitally, take it all in and enjoy.

Peace out