I study Medieval History at Winchester University, and I aspire to use my degree in order to obtain a job that actually revolves around history. The obvious place for that would be to become a history teacher, but I came to a realisation that I’m not always particularly fond of young children. My next thought then was to look at jobs pertaining to a museum, where families and people of all ages go. This is a place where people have many questions about the historical content and a place that I could still share my excitement for the subject. I recognised that in order to achieve that I would need some kind of experience to separate myself from all the other future graduates who had the same goal as me.

So last summer, I began looking at museums that I would find interesting to visit, and that I could volunteer at over the summer whilst I was not at university – I found the Museum of the Order of St. John. I had done some work on the crusades and the Knights of St. John in the past and I was also planning my dissertation, which would be partly based on the history of the Order. So it seemed perfect! I enquired about possible opportunities to help out over this past summer and was met by a very enthusiastic response and an opportunity to fulfil multiple roles during the times that were convenient for me.

The reality of what I was offered exceeded my original expectations; I imagined that I would be sitting in a museum alone for 5 or 6 hours a day, staring at the same display cases for weeks, waiting for the odd person to visit that had a question or needed directions to a toilet. In fact, what I would be doing was going in to the museum for a couple of days a week and manning a separate building from the museum, with a team of other volunteers for half of the day. The rest of the day was spent up in the office to help with the Index Card Project. The church and crypt need to have volunteers staffing it otherwise it cannot be open for the public to visit. So what I would be doing was important, and the Index Card Project involved transferring the old cataloguing system from paper cards onto an electronic system called MuseumPlus.

The activities that I participated in and knowledge that I have gained from being here are going to be indispensable for my future. I received some training in how to use MuseumPlus, a system used by many museums I believe, and that will stand me in good stead in the future.  I have immensely enjoyed my time working with the other volunteers who have a greater understanding of certain historical periods than me. It has also helped to broaden my familiarity of the Order of St. John from the almost purely medieval perspective that I had before. I loved the time that I was able to talk with members of the public about the history behind the Order, each individual having different questions and interests! I have developed new skills and continued to hone some that I already had, I have taken great pleasure in my time at the museum and, quite importantly, it looks great on the CV!