My Time at the Tower . . .

Cover of the souvenir booklet

As I continue on with my museum career journey, I come to the making-a-dream-come-true part: Living in London. I had always loved the city and had the opportunity to travel there a couple of times and really, really wanted to live there. So after I getting my undergraduate degree in history, I took it and my British passport (which I got through my father, who was born in Wales) and headed off to the place that captured my imagination so much history in just one place. I packed a HUGE bag - a hockey bag no less, how Canadian! - with a bunch of books, a stereo (!), my photo albums and some clothes in a suitcase . . . I was going to set myself up there and be part of the action!

My Welsh cousin met me at the airport. I do wonder what she thought of me and all my bags . . . and we took the underground subway (tube) to her place in east London. I arrived right around Guy Fawkes Day, and so there were fireworks and everything, I was so excited. I quickly got myself settled best I could and hit the pavement, looking for work.

I remember specifically going to the British Museum and the Imperial War Museum on my trek around town in my new and not-yet-broken-in pumps. Staff there were not overly-excited to see a young eager Canadian university graduate, I have to say! And, ya, as this was the time before easy internet (!!), it was tough to figure out where to look, who to talk to, how to get to work in a cultural organization. But I was not to be deterred! I went an employment agency of sorts and tried to understand the new place I was in. The positions listed there were more for odd-jobs and pubs, and I didn't come all that way to NOT work in a museum-like setting, so I decided to take more resumes to other places in person. My cousin was kind enough to put me up until I found a job, but time was pressing on . . . and that's when I got an interview and then awarded a seasonal position in the Tower of London gift shop!

for more awesome photos, check out here


Yeoman Warder

 

I was ecstatic. I would be taking the tube from Leytonstone to Tower Hill EVERYDAY, be a commuter in my big city. They also provided a uniform, which I later found out was a little bit too much like a school uniform, but that was okay - I would know what to wear. And it was a pretty intense schedule of 6 days on, 1 day off, with every fifth week a three-day break (not necessarily on a weekend, for sure). So I would be getting a LOT of experience working front-of-house at a World Heritage Site.

I learned a whole lot in my time there . . . we had rotating assignments in the main gift shop, a smaller one inside, a booth at the Crown Jewels as well as selling tickets at the front gate. Oh the stress of a balanced till at the end of the day! And all those postcards and sweets and little soldiers and souvenir books. And answering a whole lot of the same questions over and over again . . . . it is true that visitors ALL want to know where they can get a good cup of coffee, where to grab lunch and if there is a public loo anywhere nearby. Oh, and what of these heavy coins, help?! Oh and WHY is everything so expensive? Can they use this ID to get a 'deal'? Also to see the student groups from all over the world as well as the walking tours with a guide who would hold their umbrella up high so they could follow them easily. And what it was like when either or both groups would descend on the gift shop at the same time!

The entry to the Crown Jewels. Once I answered the phone on duty

when at my booth there and it was a person wanting to talk to someone at
his bank branch . . . but he didn't think he was calling THE Bank!

I really liked my co-workers. We were of two sorts - permanent, local East Enders with benefits and temporary, seasonal students and backpackers from places like Australia and Germany. And as mentioned in a previous post, the security and tour guides were Yeoman Warders, which was pretty cool (although I got in trouble with them a few times for accidentally kicking the alarm in the ticket booth. "CANADA! Stop swinging your feet!!" they would say...). I also got in the groove of having a bacon butty and tea on break, and having great conversations . . . made my own accent kind of funny, living with my Welsh cousin and working at the Tower. One visitor actually said to me, "What are you, Irish?!" It was truly an international experience, lol. 

One of the shopgirls was a daughter of a Yeoman Warder, whose family 
lived on the grounds. She invited me to stay overnight once and I
got to sleep in the amazing (but very spooky!) place!

One bonus I had not earlier considered was that being in England also gave me an opportunity to travel easily, and this job situation made it possible to earn money, go on adventure, and return back to work. With the intense full-time schedule, I have to say it was tough to get even just laundry done - work was all I did when I was there, with an odd one-day fun day if my day off landed on a weekend. And so a friend from home and I took trains for a couple of months and we saw almost all of the western countries in continental Europe. It was awesome. It also made me realize that I wanted to do some more travel . . .  maybe I had done all I needed to do in London - for now! - and so another friend and I planned a great return back to Canada via Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. What an experience that was! (I HIGHLY recommend doing something that can combine work and travel, especially when you're young!)

Venice!

Sydney!

While working as a shopgirl at the Tower was not exactly what I had dreamed for my first museum-y job, it was amazing all the same. The reality of it - and I am grateful to this day for it - is that I gained a deep appreciation for people who sell admission tickets, work in retail, help visitors navigate a good experience at cultural organizations. Some things you need to do yourself to really understand all that needs to go into making a good first impression, be the first good contact, at a place a visitor has invested the time and money to explore. It was my privilege to do so at the Tower of London, and I took this visitor-centred learning and understanding on with me on to my next work adventures.

What can I do with a History degree?

Waaaayyyy back in 2011, I wrote For the Love of History. I am almost surprised how much the post resonates with me still - it actually might be my favourite. I especially like this part:

Ever since I can remember, I have been obsessed with history. Or maybe a better way to say it is story - his story, her story, their story, your story, our story. I have always wanted to know all the details of how we live our lives, from where your family is from to if you love your community down to what you had for breakfast (and if you ate it with your kin, or if you just grabbed a cup of coffee — no sugar — as you ran out the door). I believe I get a true connection with others through these vignettes, and I understand people better, as I get to see life through someone else's eyes.

Oh, and how I still love history. And although when I was growing up, it might seem more obvious that I should have liked English class in order to find and share these stories, it was actually Social Studies / History that drew me in. I wanted to understand how people have experienced life around them, especially people in the past. Needing to know more about this lead me to pursue an undergraduate degree in (primarily) Canadian History.

Pragmatist that I was though, I wanted to figure out how to use this degree. I had not considered a a graduate degree yet because I was really eager to get out and travel as soon as I finished my studies. I also knew pretty early on - and I am not sure why - but I did not want to teach in schools. So I started to look for examples of where this degree could be useful. I thought maybe a historical researcher for a movie? I could see in credits that this could be a thing. Or maybe for a book? How could I get into that? I had gone to the Provincial Archives and used primary resources to write a paper on muskeg and homesteading in northern Alberta . . . I also heard that yes, an undergrad degree like this could be a stepping stone for later, maybe getting a law degree or even furthering it so I could get into the diplomatic corp and REALLY see the world. But alas nothing quite fit . . . until it dawned on me: museums and collections, and the stories they hold. What would it be like to use my degree and work in a place like that? As so, as the second part of the quote above reveals . . . 

My love for museums and collections care grew from this love of history because, for me, it is objects that bring a tangible reminder of what has gone before, and how people have related to events, as the stories associated with those objects brings meaning to their experiences.

I decided I would use my history degree to tell stories - and history - through things. I would use this skill to help learn about and understand the world and our experiences around us and (hopefully) provide some relatable, common ground to meet and share our lives. And so in 1990 (ah, showing my history now, for sure!) I decided would take my history degree and find me a museum to serve. The adventure had begun!

Some real-live textbooks I used all those years ago . . .

. . . and a bonus grad photo. Oh boi!

Postscript to "For the Love of History"

Yes, indeed, history was made . . .

Well, this year's race for the Stanley Cup didn't quite turn out the way it was anticipated here in British Columbia. I almost don't even want to mention what happened, but as I wrote about the the thrill of history that was advertised by the National Hockey League in my previous post, I thought I should at least acknowledge the riots. I watched what happened live on television, right after the game, and I have to say it was surreal - could this be happening in Vancouver? Really?? To be quite honest, it was heartbreaking, especially after all the international goodwill that was built by the city during the 2010 Olympics.

The actual story - the many layers of stories - of what happened on the streets of Vancouver on the evening of June 15, 2011, will be revealed over the weeks and months to come. And with the stories will come questions that will require study and research through the evidence provided through social media and personal accounts. I imagine there will also be a review of the social factors of what happened: who did this? Why? Did it have anything to do with hockey, or was it somehow just 'human nature' where alcohol + large crowds = dangerous circumstances? So much to think about.

There will also be talk about what happened when the city woke up the next morning: so many people went downtown and cleaned up the mess that was made, swept up the broken glass, began to assess the damage of what was done, and to plan a way to make things right again. There was spontaneous need to state that this was not acceptable, this was not My Vancouver; Vancouverites followed through with this belief in the action of the clean up. There were notes put on police cars, and plywood boards covering broken windows became a place to comment on what had happened in their city.

And know what happened next?

As soon as the glass was replaced and those boards came down, they became artifacts of the time, and they soon found a home in the Museum of Vancouver, at least temporarily. History was made, and the evidence is being preserved and documented by our community museum. And even though it was not the story we expected, it is definitely one worth recording. Maybe especially so.

Truly what I have learned is there's huge societal value when our museums house these objects that say so much. I also know that museums need to demonstrate this responsibility explicitly to our communities because I doubt they are viewed as that essential. Museums have to change this perception, else they will not exist to preserve our stories through objects, whatever those stories - or objects - may be.