Collections Access Officer, Ripon Museum Trust

The Collections Access Officer will set up and manage the 'Conservation in Action Room' where the collection will be placed, train volunteers in collections management tasks as required, and facilitate the means for visitors to engage with and respond to parts of the collection. They will run object-handling sessions at both the Workhouse Museum and the Prison & Police Museum, and work with the Youth Engagement & Learning Officer on the creative project with the YMCA Young Leaders group, and with the Learning team on how to make the collection relevant for schools.

The Collection

In the region of 95% of our collections relate to 19th and 20thC. policing in Yorkshire and the Humber (incl. regionally significant collections of uniform, restraints, police medals and badges, and truncheons, oral histories, printed manuscripts and photographs). They tell the story of policing past, present and future whilst opening up wider debate on changing attitudes - e.g. on homosexuality, abortion and gender equality.

The collection has recently been moved to the Workhouse from an inadequate store off site, but is still in urgent need of management, including rationalising, cleaning, conservation, documentation, cataloguing, photographing and repacking in archive quality boxes, in turn enabling better access.