Gloucestershire Archives!

Hello Friends!

I got back from England a couple of months ago. What an experience! While in England I worked at the Gloucestershire Archives. It was amazing! First of all, I don't think that I have ever met more friendly people before. They were absolutely the best. Not to mention all of the fun things they let me help with. I got to handle documents with things like this:

And this:

While at the archive, I worked on a few projects. I helped extract information from a collection of land records (like the pictures above). That was one of my favorite projects because I got to spend so much time practicing reading old handwriting. My other project involved organizing and cataloging a previously uncataloged collection. When I received the documents, they were just a bunch of lose papers in a box. When I was done, they looked like this:

I was proud of the outcome! They even taught me how to package the documents in a way that would best preserve them. It was a lot like wrapping presents!

Interning in England was the best thing ever. If you have the option to leave the country for an internship, you should definitely take advantage of that opportunity. My favorite place in Gloucester was the Gloucester Cathedral. It was so great to be able to walk in such an old and historic building, and to wonder what all has taken place there. The architecture was absolutely stunning. Being able to visit a place that contained so much history and was so old and beautiful was amazing. I was able to see the tomb of Edward II, and greatly appreciated all of the engravings on the floors and walls that marked the deaths of many people (I think I am the only one who took pictures of the floors, and appreciated the genealogical information found there). I went on a few tours of the Cathedral that helped me to understand more about the history of England, and the Church of England, which clarified history that will directly help me in my family history research. There was a portion of a tour that went down to the bottom floor of the Cathedral into a space that was used to hold the bones that were excavated from the burial grounds to make room for others to be buried there. The tour guides gave excellent accounts of the construction of the Cathedral, and also the beliefs of the Church of England and how those beliefs could be seen in various aspects of the Cathedral.

One of the most exhilarating experiences at the Cathedral was climbing the 239 winding, narrow, stairs to the top of the tower at 225 feet. On the way up, we were able to stop and hear the bells ring while being in the bell tower. There is one bell, the three ton Great Peter, which is England’s only remaining medieval great bell. It was hard to imagine the amount of work and the length of time it would have taken for such a big bell to be put into place.

I was also able to hear the choir practice while I was there. The acoustics were amazing and they sounded like angels. I gained a better understanding of English culture by being so up close and personal with the people and their history that surrounds them daily. The Cathedral is still used for Sunday services, and that simple fact showed that England’s past is still very much connected with their present. Every aspect of my time in England was educational and beneficial. It was a great opportunity.

When I wasn't at the archive, I was able to travel to Bath to see the Roman Baths! Other than it being a cold an rainy day, it was a great trip. It was so fun to be in a place whose history dates back so much farther than we can experience here. I constantly felt that I was surrounded by history. It was great!

Overall, one of the best experiences of my education!