Ellie at Rutland

 



 First Posted: 7th December 2016
 In Training And Employability

As part of the Resilience Syndicate project, our interns will spend half of their time within a museum setting. Ellie has begun her role as a Collections and Interpretation Intern with Rutland County Museum and this is what she will be up to:

“Having completed a MSc in Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology, I am enthused by prehistory and cannot wait to get involved with Rutland’s vast archaeology.

During my time here, I will help to complete a collections review which will ensure that all items held in the museum are relevant to the museum and users. This will include:

•Confirming the location of each item within museum (behind the scenes)
•Ensuring each item has an up-to-date description
•Compiling a list of priorities for conservation

I will also be contributing to the design and content of new exhibition banners in the Old Riding School which will explore specific Rutland history (e.g. The Battle of Empingham) – something the museum has just been granted funding for by Arts Council England and Museum Development East Midlands.
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So far, the most enigmatic object I’ve found is a dorsal fin spine of a c.160 million year extinct shark (Asteracanthus ornatissimus):


 

Though fascinating, I can’t quite seem to escape from my ice age interests (my passion for museums began in one that revolved around Ice Age topics): the museum exhibits several mammoth fossils, one being a tooth. I like to imagine c.14 foot mammoths in Rutland. I’m still dumbfounded by the size of mammoth teeth – they grew 5-6 sets in their lifetime!
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I hope my contribution will make a difference: In completing these duties it is hoped that the museum will contain more meaningful collections – enabling Rutland’s history to be available and accessible to current and future visitors.

By Ellie Cooper, Resilience Syndicate Intern at Rutland County Museum

 

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