Giving a little, but gaining a lot

In this post, second year History student Emily Knights shares her thoughts on the importance of volunteering following her History, Community and Culture placement at the Yorkshire Museum.

Who has spare time these days? Everything is fast-paced and people are constantly running from A to B, trying to get to their destinations as quickly as possible. People don’t seem to take the time to appreciate the things that are right in front of them, what hidden gems there are in their cities. It’s a joyous moment when people enter the Yorkshire Museum and say ‘I didn’t even know it was here’. It’s nice to be considered part of a precious place people appreciate greatly after discovering its existence.
More people should be aware of smaller museums. Most people know about the bigger ones like the Natural History Museum (London), and the Great North Museum (Newcastle Upon Tyne), but are blissfully unaware of the hidden gems in smaller cities. The Yorkshire Museum is one of these. Although it was built specifically to be a museum, I don’t think it gets all the credit and visitors it deserves. The collections it holds are extensive, and I wish more people knew about them so they could come and experience them for themselves.

We have so much to offer and the people I’ve spoken to all seem to be enjoying their visit – it feels so good to know you’re helping to improve someone’s day!

Museums rely on volunteers more than anything. The pay for museum work is notoriously low, so the more people museums have to help out, the better! The ‘Hands on Here’ scheme at the Yorkshire Museum is a way of recruiting volunteers to help visitors have a more memorable experience. Volunteers like myself show visitors real-life artefacts and can even allow them to handle them. We also welcome people to the museum and just generally chat to them. Talking to people and making sure they’re having a good time at the museum is important, and we can give feedback to higher levels.
We have over 300 volunteers at the moment, but we don’t all work at the same time. There are about 10 ‘item boxes’ on rotation, so we have a rota we can pick our hours from. Sometimes there will be quite a few volunteers on one day, and some days there are none. People do have busy lives so it’s unreasonable for them to volunteer all day every day. But if more people signed up to the scheme then could have more volunteer-visitor interactions. We can help to bring the exhibits and the periods we know about to life. It’s amazing how much more interested people become once they realise you do know what you’re talking about. We all have an interest in history, but there are so many benefits from being a volunteer.
Ever wanted to have access to multiple establishments for free? By doing the ‘Hands on Here’ scheme, we get free access to any YMT building and its exhibits. We also get a discount in the food and drink establishments on site. But, despite these benefits, the main one for me is that feeling you get when you make someone’s day. It just feels so good knowing that you’re helping someone learn and have a great day! It’s equally rewarding when visitors say it directly – that feedback is truly priceless.

Oh Diana…

On placement at the Yorkshire Museum for our History, Community and Culture module, Emily Knights discovered all was not as it first seemed with a precious Roman artefact on display. Here she shares her research, hunting for clues about a special image of Diana the huntress.

During my ‘Hands on Here’ placement at the museum I was given charge of a box of objects that related to Roman women. Many of these items were common ones you would find in a household, but surprisingly, one of them was in fact a unisex object.

Figure 1: Layout of artefact with blown-up image of Intaglio.

The ‘Diana Intaglio’ is a ring owned by the Yorkshire Museum dating from between 43AD and 410AD. It consists of a jasper stone set into a gold-plated ring. However, the fact hidden from immediate sight is that the ring and gemstone date almost 1000 years apart. That’s right! The gemstone was originally found outside in a dig in York in the Victorian period and was then set into an encasement. Unfortunately, the historical societies daren’t try to remove the gemstone in case it breaks during the extraction. Even though the ring is somewhat marred by the encasement, it nonetheless remains a beautiful and intriguing item.

Intaglios are stones which were often set into rings and used to seal wax documents. For Roman Intaglios, they often had images of gods, goddesses or emperors, all with different meanings and importance for different aristocratic families. It was common for prestigious Romans to have these items, so by this item being discovered inside York’s city walls, we can infer that prestigious families lived in York, which shows the development to a civilian society from the original military garrison of Eboracum. It’s interesting to see how these items were used by their creators, as opposed to how Victorians viewed the gem more as a decorative item without a physical function, and then combine the information from both uses to understand the full significance of the item.

The gemstone itself is called a jasper stone, naturally red/orange in colour due to the amount of iron in its natural properties. The hole in the encasing allows light to flow through the gemstone, which makes it easier to see the carving on its surface. Despite the Victorians restricting our knowledge about the item, there are benefits to their ‘meddling’ with the intaglio.

I get a lot of interest and questions about this item, as it looks very valuable on first sight; the carving in the gemstone is of the goddess Diana and is extremely well preserved. It depicts Diana in a ‘hunting’ stance, accompanied by her hunting dog – a very characteristic image of the goddess. Visitors are often intrigued by the intricacies of the carving, as arrows are visible in Diana’s quiver, as well as a deer slung over her shoulder. I was amazed when I first saw the object to how well preserved it was, as everything is so detailed, it’s almost like looking at it in its prime.

The cross-over of historical periods make the object all the more intriguing, as although the setting has restricted the knowledge we have about the original setting of the stone, it shows us how the Victorians viewed artefacts when they were first found. They thought the jasper stone was important enough to gift to someone else and give it a new lease of life. This is a similar thing to what the ‘Hands on Here’ scheme aims for at the Yorkshire Museum, as by allowing visitors to handle artefacts from the archives, the objects are given a new lease of life.

Illuminating Eboracum

In the first of a new series, as part of our History, Community and Culture module, History student Emily Knights has undertaken a placement at the Yorkshire Museum, gaining a fascinating insight to their objects, how to care for them and invite the wider public to engage with them. Here, she shares her experiences working with artefacts from Roman York.

At ‘Hands on Here’, we aim to give the public a directly interactive experience with our artefacts, making their visit more memorable. The artefacts we have on show differ between real artefacts and some other remodelled examples. However, the Roman Women box consists of all original artefacts, making it very valuable and also prone to breakage. It is protected by foam encasings for many of the items, and for smaller artefacts they are additionally kept in their own plastic casing. We also have a sign which is presented alongside the objects requesting visitors to be careful and to wait for handling instructions – however this doesn’t always resonate with visitors, making it necessary to also give a small spoken notice when people approach the artefact table about the need to be careful.

When you’re trained as a ‘Hands on Here’ volunteer, you are shown how to handle objects correctly, such as setting the objects up with foam protection underneath to minimise the risks of damage. Lots of our items are fragile so it’s important to follow instructions to keep them safe. We are handling parts of history, which is really cool, knowing that they were used by people hundreds of years ago. It gives us a glimpse not only into the past but how things have evolved, like a table lamp. The Roman version of this (an oil lamp) would have been a common, cost effective way of lighting a room in a Roman household. Something seemingly so insignificant. Yet so important to us as historians.

Figure 1: Oil Lamp (AD 43 – 410).

One of my favourite items in the Roman Women collection is an oil lamp dating between 43AD and 410AD. Unfortunately, only the lid section survives; it was found incomplete at the site of a Victorian dig. The engraving on the surface is what makes this item so interesting to me as it depicts an elderly Romano-British woman selling what appears to be corn or wheat to a younger, male traveller. Roman Women often depicted themselves in the prime of their youth in order to preserve beauty throughout the ages, so this is a really unusual depiction to find. It’s extremely important to protect it, as the imagery is so rare. It is made of clay so is very delicate and often I don’t allow visitors to handle it due to a previous breakage that has increased its fragility.

However, it is a judgment call, and if a person is particularly interested in it, I allow them to hold it in the palm of their hands carefully, over the foam protective surface of the artefact tray and I get to see their reaction to this, which in itself is priceless.
As you can see from the image here, there is a crack down the centre of the artefact. This was caused by a visitor not following handling instructions correctly, and consequently dropping it. Although it isn’t completely broken, it’s sad to see the damage that has been done by people not properly following our instructions or just being careless. As a volunteer, we have a responsibility to protect and manage the objects to make sure they are here for others to see. And if visitors realised this as well, perhaps fewer items would be in danger of breakage.

Bringing Eboracum to Life

Second year student Charis Wilson explored Roman York for her placement project at the Yorkshire Museum, finding exciting ways to intrigue young visitors.

In conjunction with the university, I was offered the opportunity to work at the Yorkshire Museum in order to produce a trail for the Roman exhibit. This was an interesting prospect due to the vibrant history of the Eboracum garrison and its settlements.

Upon further research, Eboracum really came to life. Roman York was not simply a military operation but an oasis of power and opportunity, which in turn predictably attracted scores of different individuals. The forensic section of the museum exhibits unveils the everyday life of inhabitants. This information was presented in the form of five skulls and single skeleton. The case studies that really grasped my attention included the skull of a ‘travelling priest’ and the full skeleton of a ‘wealthy lady’. Both had been analysed in terms of mineral deposits and the age and placement of teeth and bones. By tracing minerals within bone deposits, it is possible to deduce the individual’s diet and therefore the climate and even locality in which they may have lived. This information can be paired with the knowledge of other artefacts found with the remains to place where an individual might have spent most of their life. The skull thought to have belonged to a priest had been found alongside an unusual amount of jewellery for the average Roman man. Historians speculate that this man was likely to have belonged to a sect worshiping the goddess Cybele, the followers of whom wore women’s clothing and castrated themselves in the name of faith. It is possible that he travelled to Britain to further his following of this religion. The story behind the lady suggests that she had travelled from North Africa, however the reasons for her visit remain a mystery. The jewellery she was buried with shows that she was wealthy, or at least her significant other or her father was. In-depth analysis of a skeleton can’t provide complex and reliable information on the emotion or motivation behind the people of the past but it can colour the picture in to a degree. Although, we do know that the combination of facial studies and residues within her teeth place her as coming from North Africa and having lived in Eboracum for only a short time before her untimely death (she was 20).

I find it really interesting that there are methods of constructing a person’s life by having knowledge of the period in history from which they lived, as well as a forensic education. Part of the fun of this is being able to speculate as to what might have been and construct different theories. I found this particular section of the museum very inspiring, so much so that it has prompted me to think about a future career in forensics!

 

Recruiting Now for the Ninth Legion!

As part of his placement project at the Yorkshire Museum, second year student Colum Martin created an exciting, educational trail for children around the Roman gallery. He describes his experience here.

 

As a part of my History, Community and Culture employability module this year I was required to choose and undertake a work placement within a wide range of different fields in order to narrow down my own career prospects. I chose to apply for a placement with the Yorkshire Museum. The placement project which our group was assigned was to develop a museum trail or path through the various galleries that would encourage primary level students to look closer and enhance their learning. The scope of the artefacts and the galleries that house them was great, as the museum hosts five main galleries that highlight York’s prehistoric, classical and medieval past for both local residents and visitors from further afield. The cornerstone which began the challenge of the placement was to decide whether my own specific trail would be comprehensive and include all of the main galleries or just focus on one entirely on its own. In the end I chose the latter as I decided it would be more beneficial to cover one era of York’s history in a conclusive manner, as opposed to rushing through each of the five galleries in turn thus confusing students with such a wide ranging but muddled series of facts, figures, and trivia on each of the galleries.

I selected Roman era York as the basis for my trail because I found York’s political and military importance to the Romans as frankly more interesting to base a trail around and as a consequence could be designed to be exciting as well as educational for the students who would go on the trail. During my initial visits to the Yorkshire Museum I became aware that the Roman exhibits placed particular importance on several stone carvings, such as a small memorial to legionary standard bearer which detailed the exploits of the Emperor Trajan’s 9th legion. However, visiting the museum is one thing but getting close to the exhibits is quite another, given the huge influx of visitors who visit the Yorkshire Museum daily. I had to choose my times carefully to make sure that I had enough time to study the various artefacts I had selected beforehand in enough detail. In the end all of this provided me with a solid foundation upon which to base the rest of my trail and would also become the foundation of the trail’s thematic and narrative structure, with the trail being a mock recruitment drive for the Roman Emperor Trajan’s 9th legion.

My favourite artefact that I had the chance to study in its entirety was the 9^th legion’s standard, the Aquila, known more commonly as the Roman Eagle. The Aquila was an important symbol of a Legion’s strength and the loss of one was regarded as a catastrophic military defeat. Though no actual legionary Eagles have survived the millennia and a half since the Roman Empire collapsed, this example carving of an Aquila in almost pristine condition was thrilling to study. The carving makes it easy to imagine the 9^th legion proudly marching in lockstep formation under the banner of their Imperial Eagle. This artefact alongside various other military items, such as the Statue of Mars in the main gallery, were the main inspirations for the concept and eventually the finished trail project upon which my placement was based.

Researching the York Boar Badge

Inviting people to learn more about objects in the Yorkshire Museum’s medieval gallery was at the heart of Charlotte Gayfer’s placement project for the module History, Community and Culture. In this article she shares her views on a special object from the collection.

As part of my project with the Yorkshire Museum I designed a trail for their exhibitions and in preparation for deciding what to include I researched lots of different objects. Something that caught my eye whilst researching was the investment into the York Boar Badge. The white boar was the symbol of King Richard III and his supporters showed their allegiance by wearing a badge like this. The connection to Richard III makes this object very important to Yorkshire, as the county supported him during the Wars of the Roses.

The more I researched this particular object the more intrigued I became. Articles detailing the acquirement of this object showed that was an exciting and rare find. I found that the Yorkshire Museum held an appeal to purchase the badge and were told that they had until September 2012 to raise the £2,000 necessary to buy it or it would be sold to a private collector. I researched this as I couldn’t believe the facts and was thankful to find that the funds were raised through local public donations, showing how important this is to the people of York as they helped the Yorkshire Museum to obtain the boar badge.

There are dozens of amazing objects at the Yorkshire Museum in the ‘Medieval York: Capital of the North’ display, including the York Boar Badge, and I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to work there for my project and research the objects that are on display there. The opportunity to do a project there is one that I would recommend to future students on the module, it is mainly independent work but you get to see the behind the scenes of what goes on, in regards to the activities that the museum provides, and of course research and work with the objects that the museum has obtained for the public to view.

The diverse past of gladiators in York

In this post, second year history student Holli Evanson writes about her placement at the Yorkshire Museum. As part of our employability module History, Community and Culture, Holli conducted a project placement at the museum focusing on the history of Roman York.

I chose the project placement opportunity with the York Museums Trust at the Yorkshire Museum because it appealed to me for a number of reasons. The first being my interest in becoming an exhibition curator or designer in a museum or art gallery in the future. This opportunity indeed gave me a taste of what skills would be required in a future role. As well as this, I created material for the Eboracum Festival held in York between 1 and 4 June this year. Since my time in college I have been particularly interested in Roman history and have plans to write my dissertation on this period, and continue focusing on with a Master’s Degree. Therefore, all aspects of this project placement directly relate to my future goals and career aspirations.

Beginning the placement was interesting for me. Although I have an interest in the Roman past, I have little knowledge about Roman Britain and the local history of Yorkshire – as I am from a different part of the country. My first visit to the Yorkshire Museum was engaging because it fascinating to see the rich local history of Yorkshire, that I was previously unaware of. My interest in the era of the Roman Republic led me to make some interesting connections involving the culture, style and architecture of Eboracum. The most fascinating part of my visit was the wide variety of peoples in Roman York. When learning about Roman York in my first year at university, I didn’t believe there was much diversity within the community, however I now know York had inhabitants and attracted visitors from all over the Empire. All the  skulls displayed in the museum had a variety of ethnic backgrounds, including visiting tradesmen from the Balkans, and a member of African aristocracy.

One of the skulls on display in the collection was one of the 80 skeletons found in a graveyard in York a few years ago. All these remains were of big built men and had many injuries from swords and other weapons and one had a wound consistent with a large animal bite. Due to this, it was questioned whether these men were gladiators that had travelled to York, and whether York had a gladiator arena.

I decided to focus my research into this avenue of Roman York and create a character for the Eboracum Festival around these findings and remains. My overall experience with the Yorkshire Museum was very enjoyable. I have gained important experience I can use on my CV to approach to future employers. I have also gained a more well-rounded view of the Roman World than I previously had, and an insight into local history, which are greatly valuable for my degree and future professional prospects.