HEI: Host organisation: Moffat Museum, (Dumfries and Galloway)
Duration of the internship: 12 weeks over 12 months (part-time)
My PhD research is titled ‘An Early Modern Scottish Community of Practice: A socio-cultural analysis of formulaic features in the Stewart and Erskine family correspondence, including the letters of Marie Stewart, Countess of Mar’. In it I explore the language and visual formulae used in 17th-century Scots letters.
Why did you decide to undertake an internship?
As a SGSAH-funded PhD researcher, I’m keen to explore new ways of engaging the public with the language and culture of historic Scotland. One of my main goals is to bring forgotten voices from the past to light by delving into handwritten archival materials and making them more accessible to a wider audience. After discussing my career plans with my supervisors, we agreed that an internship would offer a good opportunity to help me develop the skills needed to work in the heritage sector.
What was your internship and what did you do?
I was appointed as the researcher for an exhibition planned for Summer 2024 by the Moffat Museum Volunteer Trust. The exhibition ran for several months and focused on ten sixteenth-century fortified tower houses.
Today, many of the towers still stand as ruins in and around Moffat. The goal was to explore the history and significance of these tower houses in southern Scotland, as well as uncover details about the lives and social circumstances of the people who lived there over time. The exhibition organisers hoped to showcase manuscripts written by the original residents of the tower houses.
I had a couple of preliminary scoping meetings with the museum staff, where we established a flexible arrangement for me to work part-time from home and travel to archives to photograph relevant manuscripts.
I tracked down, photographed, and recorded any surviving primary sources that could shed light on the towers and their residents, documenting everything I found. I transcribed and translated the manuscripts I discovered and put together a project report. The report covered my research process, how I found the sources, and why I chose them. I also offered suggestions for the exhibition, like what the staff might want to highlight and what could interest visitors.
What aspects of the internship did you find most rewarding?
I really enjoyed learning about a part of Scottish history I knew very little about. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the border regions were plagued by clashes and clan warfare amongst the menfolk—it was a very violent time.
But as always, the primary sources revealed fascinating stories about the women’s lives. I absolutely love spending time digging through archives, and I was lucky enough to be granted access to the Earl of Annandale’s private archive in the basement of his Raehills estate. For me, handling and reading 500-year-old documents is always the best part!
One of the most fascinating things I found was a letter from 1572, sent by ‘ye Lady of Corheid’ (who probably lived at Corehead Towerhouse) to Lady Johnston. Moments like that are so special and memorable. Being able to touch and read these documents makes me feel connected to the people from the past.
I also loved the detective work—tracking down sources, dating them, and creating an extensive family tree of the Johnston family, the main clan around Moffat at the time.
Has the internship influenced your future plans at all?
Completing the internship confirmed that I want to pursue a career as a researcher or in heritage. I really enjoy the balance of spending time working independently, piecing information together, while also organizing and running engagement events for the public. It’s the perfect combination of research and outreach, and it’s definitely the direction I want to go in.
What are some of the skills you have picked up or improved through the internship?
My ability to decipher early modern Scots handwritten scripts improved significantly, as did my understanding of the older Scots language itself. I also became familiar with historic Scottish legal documents and Latin terminology. To help me puzzle out medieval contracts I decided to get some specialist training and took an online course in at Keele University’s Latin and Palaeography Summer School which was really helpful.
My PhD thesis looks at the language and visual formulae used in 17th-century Scots letters. While I was working on the internship project, I learned a lot about how different early modern Scottish writers shaped their language and letter layouts. It helped bring a new perspective to my own research.
I also developed new writing skills. The report I produced for the museum was different from anything I’ve written before. It had to be written in an accessible, non-academic style, and working on it taught me how to craft a lengthy report that’s more focused on presenting a project than on academic analysis.
In addition, I gained a deeper understanding of copyright laws and data management. I learned how to reach out to a wide range of people to request permission to view and photograph materials, some of which had been carefully preserved within their families for many years. It was a valuable experience that equipped me with practical skills I plan to use in the future.
Do you have any tips for researchers looking to do an internship?
If PG research students don’t want to complete an internship all at once, they could ask to spread it out over a longer period as I did. This arrangement worked well for me because it allowed me to continue my Graduate Teaching Assistant role. Also, in some cases, gaining permission to access certain archival materials took several weeks. Spreading out the internship period gave me the flexibility to wait for responses and coordinate visits to archives. In saying that, the museum project sometimes overlapped with other areas of my own research when I wasn’t focusing on the internship. I think I ended up doing more work than I would have in a single 12-week period, but ultimately, the material I produced was better for it.
An internship gives you a real sense of what it’s like to work in the “real world,” where you have to adjust your ideas and methods to meet the needs of your partners. University can sometimes feel a bit like being in an academic bubble, and an internship lets you collaborate with people from different sectors—beyond just academics and students—and gives you insight into the compromises you might need to make in your future career to get things done on time or work with the resources available.
Where can people find out more?
Museum Website: https://moffatmuseum.co.uk/
Exhibition Webpage: https://moffatmuseum.co.uk/moffat-tower-houses/
For those interested in finding out more or reading my report on the fortified tower houses of Moffat, please contact me: https://www.gla.ac.uk/pgrs/claireelder/.
CONNECT WITH CLAIRE (she/her)
Email: Claire Elder
Twitter/X: @claireelder
Bluesky: @claireelder.bsky.social