British Museum Archives

Check out the website: http://britishmuseum.org/research/libraries_and_archives.aspx

The British Museum Archives and Reading Room is located in the center of the museum, and has been closed off from the public for some time now. Our guide, the lone and second ever qualified archivist Francesca Hillier, toured us around the rotunda and discussed the items on the shelves and the history of the museum. She also discussed her job as an archivist, and how severely backlogged she is in cataloging all of these historical materials.

As the only archivist, she relies on volunteers and interns, but as there is no organization, it is difficult for others to find materials for inquiries. Only Ms. Hillier knows where some items are only because she has been working there for twelve years, and even then she still finds new materials she doubts anyone ever heard of.

Archivism never seemed to be considered despite the building being a museum. For instance, some books have vague titles, such as Original Letters and Papers. No one knows what are in these books, but when opened, many letters are damaged because of wax sticking to other pages and how materials were just folding and glued to fit no matter how brittle the paper are. Some materials are also in books but in later years were just stuffed in labeled boxes which took up more space.

For a place of historicity of over eight million items, there is no organization, which frightens me. Surely more classes should take a trip to the reading room to learn more about the importance of cataloging and archivism, if Hillier can handle the extra workload.