My eight-week placement officially wraps up this week, and I'm glad to have finished all the projects I was working on. It's a bit sentimental, though, as my time with these amazing people has come to an end. It was a beautiful final day, and I am grateful to Worcester for letting the sun shine on my last day here.
At the George Marshall Medical Museum, I designed a new trail with a hands-on activity called 'Battle with Diseases.' The trail introduces four diseases, and as you visit the museum, you'll learn more about them through their symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments. The activity is very interactive and hands-on, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it and gain a better understanding of the objects, the diseases, and their relevance to daily life.
Additionally, the 'War and Medicine Workshop' is also on the right track. By adding more interactive elements, I hope students will engage better with the objects and have a valuable experience during their visit. Good things take time, so both projects will be launched soon. Stay tuned! I can't wait to see the final results and sincerely hope they help visitors have a better museum experience.
On the other hand, the final installation is complete at the Infirmary Museum. Thanks to a generous donation from Doris Kershaw's family, the cabinet has been updated with more of her collections. This display commemorates her great efforts for the patients and staff of the Infirmary. If you'd like to learn more about 'The Friends of Worcester Royal Infirmary,' be sure to visit the temporary display at the George Marshall Medical Museum! Besides Doris's collection, I also updated an anatomy examination paper from 1840. If you are interested in anatomy or are a medical expert, please visit and challenge yourself to see if you could have been a successful candidate for the college! I had so much fun researching the archive and collections; time flew by as I checked on every piece, all of which were so interesting and new to me!
Throughout the preparation, I gained great experience in curating a display from scratch. Starting from researching, writing texts, interpretation, designing layouts, and installation—all of these processes were new to me. I want to give a huge thank you to Louise and Harriet for their generous help. I couldn't have done this on my own without their warm and experienced support.
To sum up this journey, everything I gained exceeded my expectations. All the wonderful volunteers and people were extremely friendly and caring. It was amazing to spend time with people who shared the same passion for medical history. I'm feeling myself becoming a part of them, and I'm now so invested in medical history! I'm also glad to have gained experience in almost every aspect of a small-scale museum's daily operations. I believe this placement will be a solid foundation for my future career. See you someday, somewhere—I'll definitely be back!