The Bowes Museum Blog

I wanted to go to museum as every time I have visited, it looked very professional. I also realised that lots of exhibitions were happening and I wanted to see if we could get involved, which we did.

Day 1 

Today I have learnt about the wonders of the museum and who founded the museum 180 years ago. I have enjoyed the first day here at Bowes Museum and I am leaving with lots of knowledge. Jess has showed us around the museum and all of her close colleagues. They look like a good team and I would recommend for people to come here to volunteer as it is such a lovely place. We had to pick 3 objects that interested us and we had to make a presentation to Jess, Hannah and the other work experience memebers. This made me feel less nervous and more welcomed.  

Day 2 

Today has been the second day of having work experience at The Bowes Museum. I have been with Connor and Harriet work the learning team. Their job is to try involve more younger adults (ages 16/25) to visit the museum. Today we have made mind maps about childhood, labour and story telling. I was a bit confused first as why were we writing about these 3 themes. I eventually learnt that the Curiosity spaces are linked to all 3 themes. I had to go around the museum and find prompts such as pictures, clothing and tools to find the theme throughout the museum. I had found many doll houses that linked to the theme childhood. They are very large and they were realistic. Not like a cartoon that we would get today. I then found rocking horses as a glimpse of the theme toys linking to childhood. I had also found the child’s chair that is only bought by the richer people and it was unusual to have, as the children got used to the adult furniture. For the theme of story telling, I found many hats and each hat holds a story behind it, such as military hats or the sequin hats that hold the power of parties and memories. Finally, the theme labour. The photo of the man in the uniform is a man who founded a spanish school. This was a job that he did for passion. He also was a soldier and he helped in the first war. I really enjoyed my second day here and I can’t wait to work with the production team. I loved the ideas of making mind maps in groups to compare our ideas to get more knowledge that we may not have known before. We also got to watch the Silver Swan which was really fun and I have learned that the swan isn’t the most expensive thing in the museum, but it is the only mechanical swan around and it is very very old (3 years younger than the USA). 

Day 3 

Today we have stayed with Faye. She is apart of the marketing team and she is in control of the social media for the museum. I made a TikTok showing two different dresses. I had lots of fun and I have learnt about the time to post and how it can affect the view rates and the likes.  

Day 4 

Today we did multiple activities with the production team and David. We helped put a large painting back up which did take a lot of time but that is not the museums fault. We also painted many boxes which I loved. Later on, we met David. I will admit attending the Winter Market meeting wasn’t the most interesting but after, we went in the shop. We had to make displays using themes such as colour. I loved it and it was so much fun. Later, he took us to the cafe and he showed us the restaurant which was exciting. I really enjoyed the day. 

Day 5 

Today we worked with the collections team. Their job is to get children and adults feedback about the museum for change. We had to take many pictures of textures so that the groups that come to the museum can use it for books that they are making. In the afternoon we worked with Joe. He let us move lights and clean all of the furniture to be placed in new rooms. He even showed us a man trap! So intriguing! 

I think I’ve gained lots of confidence going to The Bowes Museum as I have had to work with lots of new people day by day. I was really intrigued by what their roles were in the museum. I discovered that there are many more roles than just cleaning and marketing. There were roles to help children to get into history. I have learnt how to be independent as well by discovering that some of the roles are quite self centred and independent such as marketing.