I can’t wait for everyone else to get to know them as well as I do, and my summaries of these patients will be on the Medical Museums website, and will be displayed in the museum when it re-opens! Current circumstances have obviously meant that I haven’t been able to visit the museum in person, and I’m incredibly excited to be able to go and see it in person, hopefully soon!
I’ve absolutely loved doing this work experience placement, and I would even say that it’s been my favourite part of my university experience so far! I’ve learned about the way the museum is run, I’ve been able to learn how to work with primary source material, like the museum’s database of patient case notes, and I’ve written blog posts, which is something I’d never done before and has been hugely helpful for me in reflecting over the work that I’ve done! The museum’s database is available to access on the website if you’re interested in learning about the patients, which I highly recommend having a look at! Doing this research has really opened my eyes to what historical research can do, and volunteering with the museum is something that I would absolutely love to do in the future!
It’s been an absolute privilege to be able to do this placement, and I feel very lucky that I have had such a wonderful supervisor to guide me. Louise and I have had weekly meetings which have been extremely helpful for my placement and have become something I look forward to every week, especially with the pandemic meaning that we can’t get out and about to see people as much as we’d like! Mostly I’d like to say a big, big thank you to Louise, who has definitely been one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed this so much!
I’d also like to say thank you to my module supervisor, Elspeth King, for arranging my placement, and for all of her help and guidance with my work experience module!
If you ever get the chance to do a work experience placement with the George Marshall Medical Museum, take it! You’ll definitely love it as much as I have!