27/08/2022
Subject Area: Archival practice and exhibition curation
Format: Group tour
Length: 2.5 Hours
Audience: Archivists
Organisers: QLD State Archives SIG
Presenter: Adelle Catts
As part of the Queensland State Archives SIG, a tour of Victoria Barracks in Brisbane was organised by local members to view their latest exhibition Soldiers of the Empire and to have a tour of both the surrounding barracks and their archival storage repository. Curator and head archivist Adelle Catts, led the tour through the exhibit, detailing how the team had planned and executed the displays, and how they created and sourced the information placards set up throughout.
After touring the exhibit, the group was shown through the archive’s repository to have a closer look at their collection. It was explained how they accession, catalogue, and store their collection, noting the differences in these factors for their weapons and objects related to military service. Additionally, the group was also shown how the archive treat and store their textiles and new acquisitions.
I chose to join this tour group as I did not currently work in the sector and was curious how an archive accessioned, catalogued, and stored their collection, as well as how they planned and implemented an exhibition. It was beneficial to see how archival preservation techniques were executed, how they planned their storage space for their collection, and incorporated best practice techniques in spaces not originally designed for archival storage.
The biggest learning I took from the tour is how the theory and techniques I had learned through my archiving courses was implemented in real-world settings, and how much careful planning and research goes into curating an exhibition.
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