It’s strange to think that I am already halfway through my internship. Over the past three weeks, I have become completely familiar with the layout of the archives and many of the offices in the Wessex building. The organisation of archives has become easier for me, a welcome development, seeing as this week I have begun to deal with larger, messier paper archives. Sometimes, these documents have been quite frustrating as they seem to go on forever. I think my working area has tripled in size as I slowly spread my files onto the desks around me. Seeing a stack of paper correctly organised has become the most satisfying feeling to me, a fact which I couldn’t have imagined saying a few weeks ago!
Working with archives has also taught me a lot about myself. Whilst I think I am a very tidy person, my working area seems to explode papers in a dozen different directions at once without my knowledge. I have realised that my love of cataloguing is probably grounded in the fact that it makes me feel tidier than I really am. Perhaps by the end of my internship, my hope for a tidy life will have become a reality. Sadly, I know this will never happen.
By Hannah Lamarque