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In the summer of 2018, Anahi Saravia Herrero's CHIP placement took place at the Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas (AOA), British Museum. 

“My placement at the British Museum, working with the staff and collections of AOA, gave me a wide range of experience. However the pictorial collections and photographic materials, ranging from 35 mm film slides to early 2000s film prints, took most of my time. I learned about different museum archive and digitisation practices.

One important task was to upload a recently acquired collection of photographs taken in Nigeria to the museum’s online catalogue: MuseumIndex+. Using a travel diary and travel log as primary sources, the required information for each image was put into an elaborate excel spreadsheet. I also helped with preparations to catalogue a collection of photographic slides for the Oceania Department. Such assignments gave me first-hand insight into modern museum cataloguing practices. I learned about the extensive categories and classes that are available within the British Museum’s expansive catalogue by breaking down each image into the distinct catalogue fields. This made me question how the catalogue has changed during the museum’s history and how the objects catalogued were affected by this process. My internship report essay focussed on changing museum cataloguing practices, by examining different catalogues and slips in the anthropology research library and AOA archive.

Working with this material gave direct insight into the importance of care and curation of museum catalogues (both digital and analogue), as well as the relevance of photographic material within an ethnographic department. My time at the museum also encouraged me to pursue my interest in cataloguing, archives and the digital humanities – possibly at master level.”

Class of 2018, HUM Major