Author: Fiona McCall

Life after Graduation

One of our recent graduates tells us how the skills he gained studying at Portsmouth, and the volunteer experience he gained while studying, helped him secure an exciting job in the heritage sector. For security reasons, he has not been named.

Having graduated in the summer of 2019 and with a firm understanding that it was now time to get back into the world of work, the task was on to find a job, one that both stimulated me and used the great many skills learned through the three years at Portsmouth. Upon entering university I knew that my one objective was to better myself in both educational values and the world of work. Having worked in the retail sector for 10 years prior to going to Uni I was fully aware that I did not want a career in this industry. However, with a passion for working with people, the desire to work in Public History was one I knew I would like to take.

During year two at Portsmouth I had undertaken a one-term course in Public History, this lead by Dr Mel Basset and with the assistance from the National Museum of the Royal Navy Library gave me a stronger understanding of both heritage and public history as a whole. Public History as defined by the US based National Council of Public History “is to promote the utility to the masses by use of historical professionalism”.[1] This being said, history should be available to all and the display of it in museums, public buildings and historical houses was a key framework to the course undertaken in Year 2. This, coupled with a continued volunteerism at the NMRN, along with my retail experience, has lead me to want to work further in this field. Discussion with various tutors, both retired and active members of staff, allowed me to explore the idea of a Master’s in Heritage Management, with a goal of allowing the knowledge gained through both my undergraduate course and proposed MA to develop a career within this sector. It however became clear that despite adequate funding for the course, maintenance would not be financially viable.

This leads to graduation and beyond, with the prospect of returning to the retail sector it was time to start looking for a job. Having worked in the industry now for 13 years, returning during the holidays, I had built up vast experience. This experience was supported and made the better by the fact that up until the year prior to deciding to go to Uni I had been a supervisor. With a CV full of various volunteer options, work as a Uni Ambassador and my retail career, a job in the public facing sector of Public History awaited. Applying as soon as I had gained my grades in early July opportunities were both varied and sometimes out of reach.

Many jobs in this industry require further study to the BA or vast amounts of volunteer experience. Or, as in my case, to have a relative understanding of the world of work. About late August I was invited to interview at Windsor Castle, after which I was given and accepted a role in the Visitor Services dept as a Warden. This role is one that both encompasses my BA and my many years of working with the public. Ultimately as a custodian to the varied and vast collection on display at Windsor, a Warden’s role is to advise, impart knowledge and maintain the security of a site that is both a working Royal palace and a 900 year old castle. The skills that I learnt through my time at Uni and my working career have allowed me to excel in this role. The way in which the role allows me to learn from Wardens and historians on a daily basis is of great benefit. The role is not one that I would like to be in until the end of my working life, it is however one that will be a stepping stone into the career in the Public History sector. If I do not get to go down the route of Heritage Management this will be ok, the skills I am able to learn through my role will impart on me just as the skills learnt before and during Uni.

As a stepping stone my degree from Portsmouth, with its wide ranging courses, lecturers and Tutorship gave me a wider understanding of the roles that would be available to me once a graduate. There must always be discussion throughout your time at Uni of what you are going to do next, even if it is just a loose plan to have an understanding is better than nothing at all. The role that I now hold could have been obtained without a degree, however with the knowledge gained at Portsmouth allows for wider understanding of the historical perspective of both Windsor and Public History as a whole.

[1]Barbara J. Howe, “Reflections on an Idea: NCPH’s First Decade”, The Public Historian, Vol. 11, no. 3 (Summer 1989): 69–85

February 12, 2020
New conference: Disruptions and Continuities in Gender Roles and Authority, 1450-1750

The new Disrupted Authority research group at the University of Portsmouth – SASHPL are organising an interdisciplinary conference linking issues of gender and authority in the early modern period, to be held at Portsmouth on the 29-30 June 2020. One keynote speaker will be Professor Ann Hughes, from Keele University, whose book Gender and the English Revolution is essential reading for those wanting to understand issues of gender in the seventeenth century. There is a call for papers for academics and postgraduates, across a range of disciplines, to send in abstracts for potential twenty-minute papers to present at the conference.

If you want to know more, see the conference webpage for details or have a chat with Dr Fiona McCall or Dr Bronwen Price who are organising the conference, in cooperation with their colleagues in the new research group, Dr Jessica Dyson, Dr Katy Gibbons and Dr Maria Cannon, about which we hope to say more on this blog shortly.

January 31, 2020
How I learned to stop worrying and chose my dissertation topic

Third year student Sophie McKee gives some frank and timely advice about the process of choosing a dissertation topic. I’m not bitter that she rejected my topic, really – ed.

When Rob James asked me to write a blog post about writing about dissertations we both enjoyed a wee chuckle. For I, after going back and forth between centuries and subjects, had only just, very recently at the time, settled on a topic.

Now wait a minute. Dissertations? You’ve just come into second year. You haven’t had a chance to process Star Wars, or Christmas, or the general election yet! How dare someone ask you to think about a dissertation! But here we are. It’s arrived. It’s time. I want to promise you though, it’s all going to be okay.

Rob has asked me to write about the way in which someone might go about deciding on a dissertation topic. I’m going to be honest with you. I can’t. When I say I can’t it doesn’t mean that I won’t try. Of course I will try. What I will say though is that no one can. No one can tell you what the “right” dissertation topic is and I’ll tell you for free, as someone who spent a long time thinking about what the right thing to do was, it’s not about that. It’s absolutely though about what you WANT to do. For this is your project for a year. You have to want to do it. And that’s worth thinking about now.

Was there a topic that surprised you in first year? Or inspired you to pick something in second. Did military history interest you more than you thought, or found yourself doing more reading on 20th Century cinema? Those are the places where you find your topics. I’m a mature student, I came to University with lots of ideas. I knew I wanted to do something with gender, and as that progressed I had this grand idea I was going to do homosexuality in the early modern period. Sounds fascinating doesn’t it? But when I looked into it, I found there was little written about it and finding primary sources to work on would be challenging. Yet I knew gender was my thing, so I kept soldiering on.

The burning of sodomites, Zürich, 1482

I’m telling you this boring story because honestly if you’ve no idea? Or maybe too many ideas? That is okay. This is how you whittle them down. No one is going to ask you to decide tomorrow. However, it’s something you should definitely start thinking about as you work through second year. Play on your strengths. Find lecturers you like. Meet with those lecturers and get feedback on your work, which will allow you to engage with the actual people you’ll have to work with. Although it’s an individual study, the dissertation should never seem like a lonely mountain to ascend alone. There are lecturers, tutors, your peers and the eve the library staff, who are fun and hilarious and helpful too. I have found more than anything else that I couldn’t have managed my degree, let alone the dissertation without the Portsmouth Uni History team. They are a genuinely brilliant bunch of people, who want you to succeed just as much as you do. I know this because I have bothered them all for the last 3 years and they’ve all been very polite about it.

When it all boils down to it, I can’t tell you how to feel about Star Wars or Christmas or the General Election; because honestly, a month later I’m still trying to process all of them too. But I can tell you that it’s worth it to start thinking about your dissertation now, because this is about you and for you and all the lecturers are ready to help you through it.

I know I speak for everyone though, when I say we can’t wait to see where this adventure takes you.

Best of luck,

Sophie.

p.s. Remember that Early Modern British History dissertation I was so sure I was doing.

Yeah, it’s on New York City in the 1980s. (Sorry, Fiona)

Gay Pride Parade, New York City, 1989, photograph by Joseph T. Barna, Smithsonian Museum, Collection AC1146, Box 97; Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumofamericanhistory/18271108150/

January 30, 2020
Historical Association, Portsmouth Branch – Upcoming Lectures

The Historical Association in Portsmouth every year hosts a series of lectures by leading historians. All lectures begin at 7.00pm, finish by 8.30pm, and are held in Room 2/07, Park Building, University of Portsmouth, King Henry I Street, Portsmouth PO1 2DZ. Lectures cost £5 for members, £1 for visitors, and are free for students.

For further information please contact see: Historical Association, Portsmouth

Tuesday 11 February 2020
‘After Bletchley Park: GCHQ From 1945 to Now’
Speaker: Professor Richard J Aldrich (University of Warwick)

Tuesday 10 March 2020
‘Joan of Arc: Woman, Warrior, Witch’
Speaker: Professor Anne Curry (University of Southampton)

Tuesday 12 May 2020
‘“Those Fancy Liquors/And Sky-High Kickers”: Skirt Dancing, Cancan, and the Invention of “Gay Paree” 1867-1914′
Speaker: Dr Jonathan Conlin (University of Southampton)

January 29, 2020
New Seminar Series: A Global History of the Present Time

Have you ever reflected upon the possibility of a chronology of recent history which is decentred from that of Europe and North America? Excitingly, we are doing just that! Our new seminar series: A Global History of the Present Time is a joint seminar series organised by the University of Portsmouth Francophone Africa Research Group, Institut d’histoire du temps présent, Paris (IHTP-CNRS) and EUME Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin.

For our launch seminar taking place on Wednesday 29 January, Portsmouth’s own Dr Olivia Rutazibwa will be joined by Dr Reem Abou El Fadl from SOAS to encourage us to think about whether the end of the 1970s should be considered the end of an era.

January 29, 2020
Volunteering with naval artefacts from World War I

Emily Burgess, a third year history student at Portsmouth, describes some of the things she has learned and some of the amazing artefacts she has got to work with on a daily basis in over a year spent working as a volunteer first for the National Museum of the Royal Navy and then for the Royal Marines Museum. She is now devising her own projects and events for the museum and has found the experience invaluable to her studies for her degree.

Emily working with RMM medals collection.

During my first year at Portsmouth University I attended a history volunteer fair held in The Mary Rose Museum. It was there that I met my future supervisor and curator for the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Kate Braun. Soon enough I was shadowing her every movement and was able to do things I could only ever dream off as somebody utterly obsessed with history.

I started off using Adlib, the NMRN’s record system to document and quality check artefacts from the HMS Caroline, a decommissioned C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, which saw active service in both World War I and World War II. These artefacts were to be sent to Belfast to be put on display. I worked on this project for six months. Alongside this I met other curators and museum workers and I learnt a lot about the running of museums, particularly artefact handling and data collection. As I gained greater experience, I was invited to work on bigger projects such as exhibitions. Two of my favourites were The Jolly Rogers Exhibition, and The Jutland Exhibition. One of my fondest memories was working alongside conservator Kate Gill who I helped assess and pack a 104-year-old flag from the HMS Bellerophon which was present at the Battle of Jutland and was riddled with shrapnel holes. I learnt a lot from these exhibitions and began to understand how important teamwork and communication was when dealing with strict deadlines and unruly artefacts.

NMRN Jutland Exhibition flag

NMRN Jolly Rogers Exhibition

I was asked to transfer to the Royal Marines Museum and I quickly accepted. There I learnt how to handle weaponry and other dangerous artefacts, specifically shells, guns, and knives, filling out numerous risk assessments in the process. Here I learnt the importance of collections documentation and packing, and the safety precautions needed when dealing with hazardous objects. The artefacts ranged from 1860 to the present day and every day we’d discover a new object. This is one of the things I loved most about museum work. The artefacts within this museum were very personal, and by working extensively on the medals collection I gained a greater understanding of the experiences had by soldiers during the First and Second World War. This proved very helpful to my degree as I began to understand how material sources benefited historical study and expanded our understanding of contemporary events.

RMM Weapons Handling

My proudest moment came in my third year as I was invited to meet HRH Princess Anne for my work at the RMM. It is a moment I will never forget and will always be a highlight of my time here in Portsmouth. I have now volunteered at this museum for over a year and hope to work in the museum system one day.

My tutor Rob James, who was aware of my previous volunteer work helped me gain contact with Felicity Wood, The D-Day Story’s Public Participation Officer. At the end of my second year I began working alongside her, helping with events and marketing, specifically for the run up to D-Day 75.

D-Day 75

Emily meeting Princess Anne

Through this position I gained a greater understanding of the public side of museum work. After D-Day 75 I helped with events ranging from touch tours for the visually impaired to autism friendly events. I worked on social media analytics and wrote a report that was sent to the National Heritage Lottery Fund concerning the museum’s progress. One of my favourite moments was a joint event held with Bletchley Park where I got to play with an enigma machine. By working this event I realised how important it was for museums to support and work with each other. Recently I was granted funding to put on my own event under Felicity’s supervision. It was aimed at children and families and gave them the opportunity to make Second World War inspired Christmas decorations. I enjoyed doing this and it gave me the opportunity and freedom to devise my own project, and see it come to life. I am currently helping with the LCT 7074, a landing craft tank carrier that was present at the D-Day landings and is currently in Portsmouth Naval Base.

Visit to LCT 7074

By working in all three museums I have learnt more than I could have ever hoped for. I have learnt how museums run behind the scenes through curatorial work and archiving, and I have developed skills in marketing and public participation. As a student these experiences have proved invaluable and I encourage anyone interested in museum work to take any opportunities offered to you through your tutors, or externally through volunteer fairs.

January 24, 2020