I decided to come to George Marshall Medical Museum because I enjoy science and thought the medical side would inform me more about that side of science. Whilst I was doing my work experience I was able to listen to a podcast about mental health during the world war and I listened to some audio files from various people speaking about their lives during the war - this was to help with the research of STDs. Also, I was able to help out with a group of school children, who were learning about the Victorian era, and I spent one day at the Worcester old infirmary where I learnt information about how certain practices were carried out. For one of the days I was able to do research in the Hive, where I looked at old newspapers dated between 1938-1945, this was interesting as I could find out the local social events and the more severe cases happening during that period.
The part I enjoyed most about the work experience was the new information I learnt whilst there, as I didn’t take GCSE history it was really interesting to learn how certain practises have changed over time e.g. anaesthetic and amputation.
I enjoyed helping to look through the old images of certain diseases and how artists drew the human body. I feel the experience at the museum has shown me that I wouldn’t want a job as a historian or at a museum as you need to take a lot of care with handling artefacts, you need to know a lot of factual information about each item as well as be able to spend hours looking through old documents to find even a small fragment of useful information- which I found really difficult at the Hive.
I think my experiences at the museum has sparked a greater interest for me in the surgical side of science and it could be a route I would take in the future as a career.
Overall, I would recommend the George Marshall Medical museum and infirmary as work placement or as a visit.