The Hockey Museum
The Hockey Museum (THM, https://hockeymuseum.org/) is the world’s first and only museum of field hockey. Located in Woking, Surrey, it is only a 30 minute train from Waterloo station. THM preserves, shares and celebrates the sport’s rich history and heritage both in Britain – where the ‘modern’ game started – and worldwide. THM was awarded Full Museum Accreditation by Arts Council England in 2018. It is supported by Woking Borough Council and England Hockey and works in partnership with the Fédération Internationale de Hockey Federation (FIH) to lead their work to preserve hockey’s international history.
THM is offering a three month placement, start date flexible, to create finding aids for the Museum’s collections. The creation of these finding aids will enhance the accessibility of the Museum’s collections and archives. The placement student will create the top-level summaries and collection descriptions so that the finding aids can be displayed online for scholars and researchers to know what material is held by the Museum. As new collections are received, the placement student will also have the opportunity to work with the Museum archivist to scope collections and apply formal structure to and document collections within a museum setting, alongside the creation of the finding aid. This work will help THM increase the awareness and use of its collections.
Students do not need to have knowledge of field hockey or sport, as this placement is about the creation of finding aids.
The placement student will be expected to be on site for part of the time each week. This placement can be either full-time or part-time.
Previous placement student Felix has said about his experience: "'My placement at THM was a wonderful experience. The project carries genuine impact in making research and archives more accessible to the public, and presence in a national database;. I was given a fulfilling amount of responsibility, including trust from the curatorial team to make decisions and suggest policy direction, which made the work both engaging and richly rewarding. I was also given one-to-one training, and gained a wealth of knowledge on a subject (archives) which I knew very little about at the outset. Furthermore, this experience has allowed me to take on a subsequent placement at the National Theatre Archives, which would not have been possible without the learning and self-confidence which my time at THM produced."
If you would like to discuss this placement, please contact THM Curator Shane Smith at shane.smith@hockeymuseum.org. To apply, please email your CV (with at least one named academic referee) and a statement of no more than one page on why you are interested in this role to shane.smith@hockeymuseum.org. Please apply by 14th February 2025.