One of the major factors in running a successful museum is having a well-looked after collection. Without it, there is no point in even having a museum in the first place!
It’s certainly a job I’ve certainly never had the chance to experience in any way, so being able to get hands-on practice during my placement is going to be really worthwhile.
In order for the artefacts on display to be presented in a more informative and engaging way, the exhibition is getting a little facelift! Not only will this redevelopment help refresh the existing displays, but it will also make room to showcase some never-seen-before items.
As part of the project, my role is to help research these items and their functions as well as collecting photos, audio and videos to create stories of the progress. We will be speaking to people from all over the community to get their thoughts about the pieces in our collection and how they feel knowing the items connect us to people two-and-a-half thousand years ago. Getting to curate these emotions in photo stories is going to be a really fun challenge and will let me loose with my creative thinking – so all those years of watching funny videos on YouTube are about to pay off! I’ve always been quite a creative person but never had a job that let me test my ability to think out of the box so I’m excited to see what I can push myself to come up with that will be visually appealing, informative but just as importantly … fun! 
I’ll also be receiving some valuable training in curation and getting close-up with some of the fascinating artefacts from our collection, handmade by Scots from another time. Seeing all these pieces will help to grasp what life was really like all those years ago and I’m very lucky that I will be involved in helping preserve them to be displayed for everyone to enjoy. Having on-the-job training will also be a great way to show just how much I’ve learned over my year at the Crannog Centre and hopefully, I will be able to continue to put my new skills to use once my placement is over.
But for now, it’s time to get creative thinking about life in the Iron Age!
Below: Frances Collinson, our curator, inspects one of the items from our collection.
