This week as part of our new blog series on student perspectives of employability, Amy shares a snapshot of her work-based learning completed as part of the Professional Development module.

As part of my master’s degree in Heritage, I gained work experience at Canterbury Cathedral. Archival work is an environment where I thrive, and I would like to include it in my future career, so I would like to share a sample of a day in the archive.

Canterbury Cathedral is home to one of the largest collections of medieval and early modern documents in the UK. The archive and library hold over 550,000 documents spanning roughly 1.2 miles across various bookshelves. The earliest documents date back to the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon charters. This gives an idea of the vast range of documents and objects hidden behind these doors.

During my work placement, I gained experience handling documents and applying my skills to research and catalogue them.

I delved into modern documents by cataloguing 20th-century newspapers from the Howley-Harrison collection.

Using an Excel spreadsheet, I searched the collection for the newspaper name, authors, dates, and significant details regarding Canterbury or the Cathedral. I used a magnifying glass to help me read some of the texts. This process can be time-consuming, but enjoyable.

The material discovered was really varied. I singled out events such as Prince Albert’s brief tour of Canterbury in the Kent Gazette in 1840, on his way to marrying Victoria in London. The prince took great interest in the Black Prince’s tomb and his funeral achievements which were his battle gear. Another small story I picked from the same year concerned a gentleman who was arrested and put into Westgate Jail for stealing another man’s trousers. He was sentenced to give the trousers back to the original owner and served community service.  

I take away from this experience a greater sense of achievement and a clearer understanding of the work involved.

I am grateful to Cressida and Fawn for their care and expertise and am thankful to CCCU for the opportunity to gain experience in an accredited archive.

By Amy Green, MA Heritage