Are you a student seeking some practical work experience, a volunteer seeking an interesting project to get your teeth into, or a researcher / heritage enthusiast excited about uncovering previously Hidden Histories? Or do you have resolutions to develop new interests, write a previously untold story, or take on a fulfilling ‘project’? WCIA’s ‘peace heritage’ work has involved many hundreds of volunteers and students over recent years, and we have a number of opportunities for internships, casual volunteering or work experience either online or at Wales’ Temple of Peace in the heart of Cardiff.
The Temple Library is open most Wednesday afernoons over 2023, for archives research and volunteer projects. Can you spare a few hours to help uncover and bring to life, stories from Wales’ Peace Heritage?
Meet some of WCIA’s recent Heritage Placements and Volunteers
- Spring 2023 thematic Hidden Histories Projects
- Summer 2022 Archives Safeguarding Project.
- Georgia Wood blog
- Georgia Osborne blog
- Georgia Ash blog
- Morgan McCarthy blog
- Ffion Edwards on Transcribing ‘Annie’s Diary’
- Iman Hamizan on Digitising the CND Archives and mapping Wales’ links with Malaysia
- Helene Chaland on International Volunteering and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
- Rob Laker’s Research into Daffodil Days and the 1935 Peace Ballot
Placement & Volunteering Projects – what can I help with?
- Library Cataloguing – completing searchable listings of books held in the Temple’s Council Chamber,
- Archives Cataloguing and Reorganisation – assisting with selection and appraisal of the Temple’s considerable archive holdings, reorganisation into thematic collections and development of an online Archives Database.
- Collections Cataloguing – photographing and recording artefacts and curating an online showcase for the Temple’s Collections
- Digital Archives Audit – supporting migration of digitised archival materials from WCIA’s Flickr to People’s Collection Wales accounts, and curating into organisational and thematic collections.
- Digitisation of new / undocumented archival materials from the Temple’s Archives & Collections
- Temple Tour guides to support visitors exploring the spaces of Wales’ Temple of Peace (building from our online ‘Temple Tours‘ and features such as ‘Architects of Peace‘)
- Peace Garden Memorials Trail for mobile phones / online devices; using social media to share stories behind the Peace Garden memorials and to illustrate / bring to life WCIA’s Memorials Trail Map and onsite information.
- Digital Timeline of Peace History stories from the last century, enabling people to explore themes, movements and periods of time, and connect to source materials / wider references.
- Popular Culture Features – drawing together an entertaining resource detailing the Temple in Film, Screen and Popular Culture, from a set for His Dark Materials / Sherlock / Dr Who, to major historic events.
- Digitisation of Temple Archives collections: Curating, indexing and organisation of documents from movements such as the Freedom from Hunger Campaign, United Nations Association, UNA Exchange / International Volunteering, the Writings of Lord Davies, etc; and producing structured feature articles that enable future researchers to analyse further.
Organisational Partnerships
WCIA are well positioned to partner with academic courses, University Careers services, International Volunteering organisations or Welsh Heritage / community organisations, to offer meaningful and enjoyable placement opportunities in Wales. If your organisation would be interested in working with WCIA to offer placements – or to work together on developing a project exploring Wales’ Peace Heritage and themes around Internationalism – please contact walesforpeace@wcia.org.uk.
Support and Mentoring
Heritage Placements are usually over 1-4 months, working to a project brief(s) agreed between WCIA and the candidate; with fortnightly Mentoring and Team Meetings to review progress. We ask placements to keep timesheets, so that WCIA can demonstrate the time value of your contributions to heritage work for future funding applications. Each placement is asked to write a blog article reflecting on their experience for the WCIA website – both as an online reference to be able to send / show to future employers, and as a reference for future volunteers continuing work on your project. If you would be interested in taking on one of the Heritage projects outlined, please fill out our WCIA Volunteering Form here, and send a CV and expression of interest to walesforpeace@wcia.org.uk.
