I’ve been an archive volunteer at GWL since May 2023 and one morning a week I help out with different tasks relating to its archive collections. At the same time I am studying part-time for an archives qualification and having the opportunity to learn practical skills alongside my studies has really helped put theory into practice. Volunteering in the archive is also a great opportunity to work with some fantastic collections, and to get involved in one part of the many things GWL is about.
There always seems to be lots going on in and around the archive – meetings about events and exhibitions, visits from researchers and others to view collection materials, group visits, and accepting new donations of material (known formally as ‘accessioning’). As a volunteer, working on less visible tasks is often the focus of week-to-week activities and through it you come to understand the many different tasks that help the archive’s more public-facing elements to operate.
In order for people who are interested in the collections to be able to access them they primarily need to know what’s there and how to get at it. Before I began getting involved in archives I had the impression that every archive has an itemised list of everything it holds, making this a straightforward task – but through experience here and elsewhere quickly realised how naïve that is. Although GWL has fully catalogued a good deal of its collections, realistically few archives have the resources to catalogue all of their collections to item level. So what’s often a useful first step to that is to create a finding aid such as a box list. This fairly simple listing of what is in a given archive box takes time and careful work to put together but will really help someone to more easily navigate a sizeable collection – and help the archivist to respond to enquiries about it.
As an archive volunteer the projects you contribute to can take – and need – quite a lot of time to think about and work on systematically. For instance, assessing and arranging for digitisation a fairly sizeable number of VHS tapes and other audiovisual materials that comprise GWL’s own audiovisual collection took several months of volunteer mornings. It has been really satisfying, however, to see the digitised files return from the external supplier, and to know that all the sorting, itemising, reboxing and spreadsheeting will help in opening up another important part of the collection.
In between helping with tasks like diary transcription, box listing, doing sensitivity checks on material, and developing cataloguing skills, archive volunteers come into contact with others at work or research in the archive. Having chats with people coming to access and use the collections, other volunteers and placement students, and particularly with the archivist and museum curator, have been some of the best parts of my volunteering experience. There are many places to sit and work in the building but the location of the archive search room on the mezzanine level means you are often aware of and can listen to interesting talks and meetings going on in the spaces below while you are sorting and working through boxes. In many instances, it is those conversations and events and exhibitions that are taking place around you which help to contextualise the materials that you’re working on.
Being trusted to safely handle the collections and access the stores, learning to build archive boxes (only simple once you’ve been shown how!) and carrying out collections care activities (making friends with the brass paperclip) have also all been great hands-on experiences. I’ve learned such a lot about archives by volunteering here, and have a real appreciation of how contributions to day-to-day archival work can really help with facilitating access to these amazing collections that celebrate women’s histories and lives.
