Roman Society: Museum Internship Bursary 2011
I applied for a Roman Society internship at the British Museum in my final term at Oxford University. As I had been studying as an Undergraduate in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, the opportunity to work on an exhibition on Pompeii and Herculaneum was an exciting one.
I began my month-long internship working alongside Dr. Paul Roberts, the lead Curator of the exhibition, in October 2011. It was an incredible experience for me, having come straight from University, to be confronted with the creation of an exhibition which brings together the history and archaeology of sites which I had been formally studying since my Classical Civilisation A-level, and which I had first visited as a child. During that month I processed all of the information regarding objects for the exhibition that Paul had collected during his photographic trip to Pompeii in September. I also gained a fantastic insight into the staging of exhibitions at the BM, as the objects were finalised, and stories were formed around them.
When my internship came to an end I continued to volunteer within the Greece and Rome department whilst applying for further internships and jobs. A few weeks later the position of Project Curator for the Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition was advertised. I was overjoyed when my application and subsequent interview were successful, and I began my role in January of this year.
Within two weeks of starting the job I flew out to Naples with Paul and the photographic team to work in Naples Museum, in the stores at Herculaneum and on-site in Pompeii. In April I led the photographers myself on a trip to Herculaneum to photograph the final objects, and to complete the on-site photography for the exhibition catalogue. Back at the BM, with the opening of Shakespeare in mid-July, we are now the next exhibition for the Round Reading Room. Many different elements are starting to come together; ranging from design and exhibition text to marketing and merchandising. It has been such an exciting and varied experience so far, and I’m sure it will continue to be so.
‘A dream come true’ does not adequately express how it feels to be involved with this exhibition. Without the initial opportunity offered by the Roman Society I would not have felt able to apply for the job, and I would certainly not have been called to interview. It is therefore to the Roman Society that I owe my greatest thanks.
Vanessa Baldwin
Project Curator: Pompeii and Herculaneum
Department of Greece and Rome
The British Museum, London, WC1B 3DG