Wentworth Woodhouse

Daily Life

I split the work up into two or three blocks per day (2-3 hours each). I worked both at home and

in libraries as I wasn't required to be in meetings. I didn't find the work particularly stressful so

had no problems switching off and unwinding after I was finished for the day.

Lasting Impressions

I enjoyed the experience - it was good to get an insight into university administration. This was

not in line with my career ambitions and so has not changed my professional outlook, but it was

an enjoyable project, nonetheless.

Megan Burgess, Balliol College, BA English Language and Literature, Second Year

Undergraduate, A mixture of in-person and remote working

Work Projects

The in-person aspect of the internship involved

scanning letters, manuscripts and documents in

Sheffield City Archives, as well as spending a day at

Wentworth Woodhouse to see how the team

operates. The remote part involved transcribing and/or translating the scanned documents, recording them in a spreadsheet and marking out

anything of note to future curatorial practice.

Daily Life

We stayed at a hotel 10 minutes walk from the Archives in the city centre, which we had to

arrive at for 9.45am; before that point we sourced our own breakfast. We would work at the

archives until lunchtime, where we were taken out to lunch by the team, then returned to the hotel for leisure time/socialising and spent the evening going out to dinner. Remote working

did not affect my daily routine at all as I could transcribe the papers at my own pace and fit

other commitments around that. At home I was working a roughly 5-6 hour day.

Lasting Impressions

I loved it and felt it was wonderful experience. I feel so privileged to have been part of

Wentworth's renovation, it is such a special heritage site and it deserves all the love & help it

can get to return it to its former glory. The work was a mix of challenging and fun and

confirmed my aspiration to work within the heritage sector. All of the team at Wentworth were

also so lovely and really helpful, I am looking to return in the future for sure!

Practical Advice

General - learn a bit about the history of Wentworth

(they have a YouTube channel), especially the family

members & their connections so you know who is

being referred to in the letters. Also reach out to

fellow interns and create a group chat because it is

very helpful. Before the in-person part: look up

places that you are happy to eat in Sheffield and make a list, so you are not stressed and

flustered as to how to find your way around on the first night. Go out to dinner with your fellow

interns on the first night too - essential teambuilding. Familiarise yourself with scanning via the

apple notes app too.

For transcription - familiarise yourself with the conventions of the eighteenth-century letters/script before-hand, and get used to deciphering difficult handwriting. The most

important part of working from home is time management - so spend the first day at home

assessing how many scans were made and dividing them equally amongst the intern; leave 2

days at the end of the internship to check your work as, with the experience you have gained by

the end of the week, you realise that you made a lot of transcription errors at the beginning.