My placement at Selly Manor: Autumn 2025
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My placement at Selly Manor: Autumn 2025
From as far back as I can remember, museums have always been my favourite parts of any school trips, days out, or holidays. I have always loved pressing my face against the cool glass, closing my eyes and imagining the stories of the collections around me. This passion has brought me to my degree in Art History, aspiring towards a career in heritage.
Before my placement I thought I knew the role, writing labels, dusting old relics, giving tours, that’s what day to day life is like in a museum. So, when the opportunity for me to undertake a placement in my final year came up, I thought it was a no-brainer, but I had no idea how little I truly knew about the ins and outs of a museum.
As a Museum Assistant, my role has been broad with daily tasks differing day by day. One day I might be designing banners and social media posts for upcoming events at the museum, the next dusting a 500-year-old chest, building a map or shadowing a school visit. No two days are the same.
Image above: The banner I designed for the museum's annual Christmas Craft in November.
Education lies at the heart of Selly Manor Museum, playing an essential role in the magic of those novel days out in school. Whether it’s the Great Fire of London, or Tudors, the team's specialty is keeping a group of excited children curious. It's been this chance to see up close the team's dedication to education that has open my eyes to a different side of sharing heritage.
As part of my placement, I have been developing an educative resource of my own, a map of the museum’s collection. This has pushed my research skills, my design skills and my digital proficiency in new ways. The project challenged me to think outside the box about new ways (especially interactive ways) that collections can be displayed. Researching the journeys various of how objects in the collection went on to become part of Selly Manor Museum was fascinating. For example, the Spanish Sillion de Frailero chairs, designs inspired by Italy, produced in colonial territories of Spain or Portugal, slowly making their way to Bournville.
Undertaking this project allowed me to reflect on the many lives an object lives before it reaches a museum, the stories we will never know or hear, but can only imagine through the paper trails of auctions and acquisitions.
Though, my key takeaway from this experience, was the place of a museum in a community. Being from a Quaker background myself, I have always been aware of Bournville, and the idea of its community spirit. When I envisioned this before my placement, I had no idea of the impact that heritage and cultural institutions have on communities. Craft fayres, Halloween events for families, the memory café for those living with dementia - museums provide a safe space, a day out that can take the weight off so many. In times when funding to museums is being slashed, and there is an increase in devaluation of the arts and humanities, Selly Manor is a demonstration of the community value of museums. Working in a museum is so much more than academia and collections, it’s an educational space, sparking curiosity in the hearts of children, and provides a lifeline for communities.
I am very grateful to have had the privilege of being with Selly Manor Museum for my placement and would absolutely recommend it to anyone thinking of applying.
Written by Alba, University of Birmingham Student Placement 2025.