My Time as an Intern at the University of Westminster Archives
At the beginning of this year, I had the opportunity to intern at the University of Westminster Archives. Between January and March 2025, I completed a total of 72 hours of voluntary work as an archive assistant as part of a module I was undertaking for my History and Politics BA degree. My time there represented an invaluable way to get to know and to understand archives. This experience provided useful insight for planning a future career in this field of work or one in any cultural institution. Undoubtedly, my internship was enhanced by the incredible archive staff in the Little Titchfield Street campus. I can only describe the Records and Archives team as very friendly, supportive, and exceptionally helpful.
As an intern, my activity was supervised by a senior archivist, but I was allowed enough freedom to decide how to approach the given tasks in order to complete them satisfactorily and efficiently. I got to work with varied and interesting collections held by the archive, such as press cuttings about the University of Westminster (and its predecessor Polytechnic of Central London) from the 1970s and the 2000s, the university’s past in-house magazine, and a collection of photographs of university students, staff, and personalities from the nineteenth and the twentieth century. I was mainly responsible with researching and processing these documents, creating summaries of collections and their content, and I also had the opportunity to create new biographical entries for the archive’s digital catalogue.
I did most of this work on my own, realising that I quite enjoyed the challenge of uncovering information buried among archive documents about obscure subjects or unknown people that were relevant to my research. I also discovered my affinity for information processing and records management, as well as realising my preferences when it comes to working schedules and different assignments. Without a doubt, the best part about working here was that by getting to know the archives I got to know myself better.
Another great aspect about working in an archive is that uncovering hidden treasures while conducting research is a reoccurring pleasant surprise. This happened to me more than once during my internship. I would like to highlight a few hidden gems I encountered while completing the tasks I was assigned.
First, I should say that the ‘People’ photo album (RSP/7/e) is a great collection of surprisingly interesting individuals from the past. But the one person I discovered through my work with it that stuck with me ever since is Norman Isaac Edwards. The story I could gather about his life is rather short, but the highlights are intriguing enough to create the impression that there is more to be discovered still. He was an Engine Room Artificer for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Norman Isaac Edwards was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his service during the conflict. He served in the Battle of Jutland in 1916, during which the ship he was on was sunk. In 1918 he took part in the Zeebrugge and Ostend fight on the Dover Patrol. At the beginning of 1919, he was on HMS Moorhead, on the China Station. Additionally, Norman Isaac Edwards was a member of the Regent Street Polytechnic’s Technical School (now University of Westminster), being the top student during the 1908-9 year.
Another example of a great discovery during my research originates from The Polytechnic Magazine. The highlight here is a 1903 letter sent into the magazine by a former student, now a British settler in Canada. In his letter Mr. Joseph Atkinson was a bit upset about people choosing to migrate to South African colonies instead of going to farming settlements in Canada. He insisted on making the point that women could get married in Canadian settlements, too. This letter can serve as an interesting time capsule to observe migration priorities and motivations from 120 years ago to the contemporary reasons.
Lastly, I want to mention a discovery that I came about accidentally while looking up a press cuttings collection I was researching on the online catalogue. It consists of different press cuttings about the University of Westminster (then Polytechnic of Central London) related to Elena Ceaușescu, the late wife of the late communist Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. I was intrigued by it because the main topic is a fraudulent Honorary Doctorate Degree in Chemistry “awarded” by the Polytechnic of Central London to Elena Ceaușescu. In reality, the doctorate was bought. Nicolae Ceaușescu’s wife was not at all versed in scientifical matters, since her academic background was forged and her preferred documented activities were spying on the communist officials and oppressing the working population. The content in these articles represented accurately the corruption and poverty dominating communist Romania from the 1970s until the anti-communist revolution of December 1989. Although I was raised in a post-communist Romania, the ghosts of this period affect to this day the society and the people Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu’s regime had tortured for years.
In conclusion, my time as an intern at the archives of University of Westminster represented a positive experience. It helped me grow as a person, it aided me in achieving First Class Honours on my degree, and it allowed me to understand my professional and career preferences. I predicted in a written essay for the aforementioned module that this internship would prove to be the most influential university activity for my post-graduation life, and I stand by my words.
My time as an intern at the University of Westminster Archives was great. I learned a lot about archives, the workplace, and the value of history.
Alex Totoliciu, July 2025