Throughout the week, I was introduced to the world of archiving and museum preservation, something that has always been of high interest to me. My love of history dates back to scheduled 7 pm viewings of “Horrible Histories,” hoping for an episode to end with one of its many songs. At The Common Room, I was instructed on the process of preserving and scanning centuries-old books. These books contain stories of mining and architecture. While the machine is allegedly prone to faults, it was soon simple to grasp. Each page was carefully turned and scanned, ensuring that the middle number of the data paired correctly with the right-hand page. Satisfaction came when the final page was turned, and the book I had scanned was complete. It felt gratifying to have completed my own bit of work.
Arriving at 9:30 am on the first day of July, alongside my fellow work experience intern Ruby, we were given a tour of our temporary office for the week. We were assigned to write and develop blog articles like this one, aiming to write four more articles to advertise their Inspiring Pioneers programme. While researching and broadening my knowledge on these underrepresented women was a pleasure, I took particular interest in the story of Dorathy Buchanan, a bridge engineer. She was the first female member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, passing the institution’s admission examination in 1927. During her career, she worked on projects such as the George V Bridge (now the Tyne Bridge), the Lambeth Bridge in London, and was a member of the design team for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Compared to my other blogs, I took more pride in this finished product, feeling proud of the 900-plus words that covered the screen. I hoped that I had delivered something worthy in commemoration of her achievements.
On the 3rd of July, I was given a detailed tour of The Common Room. I was intrigued by the beauty and the “Beauty and the Beast”-like library within Wood hall, with its spiral wooden staircases creating a historic library tone. While the archive rooms were interesting, with delicate sheets conserved in air-conditioned shelving, my favourite part of the tour was the Lecture Theatre. It is steeped in history, with its walls adorned with images of previous presidents of The Mining Institute, dating back to 1872.
During my week at The Common Room, I was also tasked with inputting and updating data records into the Koha data system, which logs the archives for the wider world. The task itself was simple enough, though there were moments of frustration when I briefly could not find the archive I was looking for while aiming to edit its record. Another short task we were assigned was cutting materials to make binders for folders. The thickness of the material made it challenging. Once the materials were cut, the last step was to curve the edges of the paper using a clever piece of equipment, the name of which I cannot remember. When we were not doing these tasks, we continued writing our blogs. Besides my Inspiring Pioneers blogs, I also began writing a blog about the stories of Rachel and Katherine Parsons and Susan Mary Auld, as well as an article centered around the history of apprenticeships, aimed at students currently in education.
Throughout the week, the staff at The Common Room, Jen, Lauren, and Gaurangi, were all extremely welcoming. We spent periods of the week laughing about the eventful Euros game the night before and discussing the upcoming general election and the constituencies in each county. Part of the work experience involved getting up earlier than usual to seek out transport like others on their commute. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the journey to work more than I thought. Being around central Newcastle during my break, I took a break from the average school canteen food to go for brief walks with my headphones on, in search of a cafe I had never seen before. Overall, it has been an insightful and pleasant week.
Before work experience, I was completely in the dark about The Common Room, the heritage building positioned on the corner close to Central Station. I arrived on Monday morning full of uncertainty, loitering with a leaflet in the foyer at the early time of 9:17 am. Now, sitting here writing this, I leave with more knowledge than I came with.
-May
Work experience student, The Common Room
