CHAWTON HOUSE

Srutokirti Basak, Mansfield College, BA History, Second Year Undergraduate, In-person internship

Work Projects

I worked as a Curatorial and Collections Intern at

Chawton House for a month. The work involved

assisting the Collections and Curatorial Manager

with the day-to-day management of an

internationally significant collection of books &

manuscripts, artworks, and household objects,

cataloguing the personal library & papers of Austen scholar Deirdre Le Faye, and curating a

display titled Ladies of Leisure: Outdoor Entertainment in Eighteenth Century England.

Emma, my manager, was enormously supportive and encouraging despite how busy she

was, and I really enjoyed working with her. She was also really willing to help with

networking as well as answer any questions to do with collections handling, finding jobs in

Arts and Heritage, as well as editing our curatorial work.

Daily Life

I was living in Winchester for the duration of my internship, and this was a really nice place

to stay. It has lots of things to do but isn't very busy. There was another intern, and we

stayed together in the same accommodation and she drove us into and back from work (at

Chawton) every day. We would work from 10-5 on various things that Emma wanted us to

do from cataloguing to book handling or closing the reading rooms for the day. After work,

we sometimes went on walks in and around Winchester. Over the weekends, I saw friends

from college as London was only an hour away. Overall, I really enjoyed my month at the

internship.

Lasting Impressions

I loved my internship and especially enjoyed having the chance to work with my manager.

Emma was so encouraging, helpful, and enthusiastic about my interest in heritage and

working with her was one of the best parts of the internship. I also learned so much from

her as well as volunteers at the house about book handling and care, such as learning to use

wheat starch glue to fix tears in old books and making phase boxes. It was great to have the

opportunity to chat with the director of Chawton House, Katie Childs, about careers advice

and progression in heritage. My internship definitely confirmed that I want to work in the

Arts and Heritage sector!

What practical advice would you give to future interns?

Apply to internships, even the ones that you think you are unlikely to get. Once you have an

internship, be enthusiastic and show initiative in your work!

Lydia Smith, Christ Church, Masters-level student, MSt History, In person internship

Work Projects

Chawton is a historic house open to the public

and a research centre for early women's

writing. My main tasks included: Working

closely with the Curator and Collections

Manager on a variety of projects, learning

essential skills in collections handling and

management. Provided with instruction covering the in-house conservation work carried

out by the organisation, principally on rare books and manuscripts. Co-curating a new

exhibition within the house - 'Ladies of Leisure: Outdoor Entertainment in Georgian

England'. I worked with the other intern on the programme from Oxford to research, create

and install this exhibition under supervision of the Curator (our supervisor).

I contributed to cataloguing and archiving a significant new collection, developing familiarity

with a range of online data platforms. I developed knowledge and understanding of library

classification systems and exposure to management processes required in the heritage

sector and curatorial roles. I worked and was supervised closely by Chawton House's

Curator and Collections Manager. This person provided a very warm welcome and managed

the first week of the internship very well, providing an excellent overview of the tasks I

would be completing during the placement. The whole team at Chawton was very helpful

and willing to help and advise me throughout the placement.

Daily Life

This internship was in person. I lived in

accommodation half an hour away. Although there

was a bus service I decided to drive each day. This

gave me the freedom to explore the local area and

generally made travelling to and from work more

reliable and relaxed. There was another intern on the

placement so we chose to live in the same accommodation and travel to work together each

day.

This was a great experience of meeting and working with a new person. Although the work/life environment was quite intense at times, having a second intern meant we had

each other to socialise with. This also provided some immediate company when moving to a

new city and area of the county that neither of us had visited before. As mentioned above,

outside of work hours I explored the local area and went on lots of walks in the countryside

as we were located in the heart of the South Downs National Park. This formed part of the

enjoyment of the internship for me, giving me the opportunity to work in a new place, and

experience how a daily, regular job affects your life outside.

Lasting Impressions

I have learnt a huge amount from this internship. I applied initially as a way of gaining

experience in an industry that I knew little about in a practical or professional sense, and the

chance to work within a historic house was particularly important for me. Being part of a

team in a historic house, a varied team dealing with visitors as well as curation and archive

management provided an excellent grounding in understanding the requirements of

managing a museum and historic house. The can-do attitude and willingness of the whole

team at Chawton to work in any area as required on a day to day basis was a big take away

for me - understanding that the heritage sector requires a highly adaptable approach to

your work and the role you may technically hold.

I also gained excellent experience in the key skills and knowledge required of entry level

jobs within the wider arts and heritage sector, such as curatorial, collections roles as well as

archive and collections management. I really enjoyed the experience and I strongly believe it

has contributed significantly to my career prospects, and to my confidence in future