Tag: natural history

Working 9-5…

…what a way to make a living!

This photo crossed my path at work this week, which rather took me by surprise! It was taken earlier this year, when I was volunteering at the Cole Museum of Zoology. I’m very carefully cleaning one of the many bullfrog skeletons. I’m going back to the Cole Museum next week, to continue volunteering, and I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ve been volunteering and working in museums now since 2009, and my intention was to get involved in as many different areas as possible, to work out where I wanted to specialise. Most of my work has been in education, with a little foray into marketing, which I really enjoy.

In the long term though, I’m now hoping to train as a conservator, specialising in natural history objects. There’s no straighforward qualification route for this, so I’m trying to gain as much experience as I can by volunteering, and by taking short courses as they come up. In December I’ll be learning about the care of fluid-preserved collections, at the Horniman Museum. I’m also trying to raise the funds to study an MA in Preventive Conservation.

So, if you’ve been wondering why there haven’t been as many making things posts around here as usual, the answer is that I’ve been at work! I took on some extra hours during the summer, and those hours have now been extended for a while longer, so I’m saving all the extra pennies towards the fees for the MA.

I’m also trying to decide whether to blog about SCIENCE THINGS here, or whether to write about them somewhere different. I will be required to keep a blog as part of the MA, but I’m aware that some of you really don’t like to see wobbly things in jars (which is the area I’m hoping to specialise in), and I don’t want to frighten anybody away! Your feedback on this would be very welcome.

Grant Museum of Zoology

Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL

Somebody at the Grant Museum of Zoology definitely has a sense of humour. These four skeletons are perfectly placed to watch over the whole museum from their vantage point in the first floor gallery!

Those of a sensitive disposition should probably look away now, because the Grant Museum is filled with skeletons and things in jars. And when I say “filled”, I really mean it. I was reminded a little of the displays at Pitt Rivers, where the museum is as much about the origins of the collection itself as the individual objects in it.

Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL

There’s a whole cabinet full of brains from different animals, so that you can compare and contrast them. I just love the way the parts have been labelled with little slips of paper stuck directly into the specimen. This one is

Brain of “Dog” in median section to show the main convolutions and sulci.

(Sulci: pl. depression or fissure in the surface of the brain. The bumpy bits are gyri.)

Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL

I didn’t make a note of exactly which species this is, but it reminded me of Skycarrots‘ beautifully delicate photograms of Mermaids’ Purses that she found on the beach. When you find these washed up they’ve usually already hatched, so I find it really exciting to be able to see one from the inside.

The museum’s currently open Monday-Friday, 1-5pm. I didn’t stay long because I was on a trip to UCL with work, so I’m going again on Monday. This time with a better camera, and a friend who wants to see the baby manatee!

(Yes, this does mean there’ll be more pictures. Sorry, Lettice!)