Last MA Internship Day at Waterford Treasures: For the People, With the People, About the People
Originally published on my Patreon with images and videos, view: https://www.patreon.com/posts/my-last-day-at-128620194
I have been really quiet, I know...but this was my busiest time with university, please forgive me, I am catching up with uploads of recorded talks and these will be up by end of next week. I'll also have the new programme for this month's events up by early next week. I was writing my last 3-4 essays and giving live presentations for my MA in Public History and Cultural Heritage with the University of Limerick, which I'm finishing now and getting ready to focus on my MA dissertation. However, my work in Public History and Cultural Heritage goes back even before 2009, year in which my work was pivotal in a UNESCO campaign for protection of cultural heritage, but back then, Public History was offered as a degree in very few universities and even less with cultural heritage! The past few weeks, I've also been lecturing on Templars, Rosicrucians and Freemasonry at Concordia University (Edmonton Canada) - see trailer here - and also at the College of Psychic Studies on W.B. Yeats' Natural Magic, while working on my MA dissertation on the Knights Templar and finishing my internship with Waterford Medieval Museum (Waterford Treasures) which began in early February this year.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and Tuesday, 6 May marked my final day as an intern with Waterford Medieval Museum. I spent it working on Waterford Treasures’ upcoming exhibition, Memories of the Emergency[1], which gathers personal stories of life in Ireland during World War II. This oral history project collects personal stories about rationing, blackouts, and everyday life during the 1940s, offering a rich and human perspective on a time often overlooked in broader Irish history, highlights how museums can preserve not just objects, but voices— voices that might otherwise be lost, thus acting as custodians of living memory and bridging the gap between academic history and lived experience.
On my last day, I finally engaged with the voices behind the stories—residents in nursing homes interviewed by museum staff, sourced from the database I had built. I listened to their recollections, summarised each interview, and identified key themes for a database that will inform the exhibition. This was, perhaps, the most moving part of the internship. I wasn’t crafting narratives but receiving them from the people, this clearly being aligned with the public history principle —connecting deeply with public history’s purpose: “for the people, with the people, about the people,” as historian Robert Kelley[2], once wrote.
As I listened to the three nursing home residents speak of rationing, fear, resilience, and the quiet weight of war, I was transported back to the wide-eyed girl who first fell in love with history—not through textbooks, but through stories. Each voice offered a glimpse into Ireland’s wartime past: one recalled the tension in Waterford with air raid shelters[3] which despite Ireland’s neutrality were being built all over Ireland[4] and ration lines; another spoke of shortages and the distant echo of conflict, felt most in cups without tea[5]. Most moving of all was the voice of a 103-year-old woman who was just eighteen during the war—her quiet strength and memories of rural life in Cavan, where communities weathered scarcity with self-reliance, stayed with me long after the recording ended. These stories are not just recollections; they are history lived—and their preservation reminds us why public history matters.
I chose Waterford Medieval Museum for my internship because I wanted to see how history could breathe beyond the ivory towers of academia in Ireland's first purpose-built medieval museum. My choice was also motivated by my main areas of focus—which beyond medieval and Norse history—include mythopoetics, archetypal/depth psychology, the Western Esoteric Tradition, wellness/holistic well-being, sacred geography, and the ancient energies of the land, as well as mediumship and haunted history, including psychical research. As a lecturer for the London College of Psychic Studies (est. 1884) and member of The Ghost Club (est. 1862), the world’s oldest paranormal research organisation, I’ve long explored the intersection of history and the unseen which is also why I specialise in Secret History (Historical Revisionism). Waterford Treasures offered an ideal setting to continue this work in a public history context, enriching and deepening my experience in these fields. Here, stories, which often come from the land, are told not just through artefacts, but through people. Waterford Treasures’ commitment to blending material culture with memory, and scholarship with community, captured everything I love about public history. Leaving will be bittersweet—but I do so deeply inspired.
Lastly, this day finished with a coffee with my supervisor, Cliona Purcell, Head Curator of Waterford Treasures, and historian/curator Donnchad, nearby Waterford’s historic Coffee House Lane[6]—a fitting close to my internship, where centuries ago merchants and thinkers once gathered over cups of imported beans to share ideas, just as we did, reflecting on the stories we preserve and the importance of bringing the past to life for future generations.
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I'd like to thank Cliona Purcell, Head Curator of Waterford Treasures for her invaluable help, advise and recommendations for my MA dissertation and for working with me during my internship. Also curator Donnchad for valuable discussions and the Museum's Keeper, Rosemary Ryan, for access to the Museum's Archives/Library for my research and her support/insights. I'd also like to thank Tour Guides Laura, Liam (and his wonderful colleague at the Wake Museum), Maureen, Gillian, and Andre (Facilities Manager). I will miss you all, thank you again for the wonderful experience and sharing my journey. I'd also like to thank the Head of the MA in Public History and Cultural Heritage, Dr Karol Mullaney-Dignam and my MA supervisor Dr. Niahm NicGhabhann.
INTERNSHIP FEEDBACK - GRADES (WATERFORD MEDIEVAL MUSEUM/WATERFORD TREASURES)
I'll add I just received my feedback for the duration of the internship from my university and I was awarded the highest grade, A1, by the Head Curator of Waterford Medieval Museum, Cliona Purcell, so deeply grateful to her as my supervisor for this and all my colleagues for appreciating my work. See some of the feedback below:
Summary of our UL student's responsibilities and accomplishments:
“During her internship Helena completed a series of projects. She assisted with research for an upcoming temporary exhibition, completed admin tasks relating to an oral history project inassociation with Diverse Waterford, she assisted with hands-on student workshops for a numberof schools, wrote and translated tour scripts for a number of offerings, stayed for after-hoursevents and was generally helpful with tasks relating to the day to day running of a busy museum.”
What are this student's greatest attributes?
“Helena's passion for her work, sense of confidence, and genuine desire to both learn from her colleagues as well as contribute her own expertise really stood out over the course of her internship.”
FEEDBACK BY CLIONA PURCELL, HEAD CURATOR OF WATERFORD MEDIEVAL MUSEUM, WATERFORD (IRELAND)
REFERENCES
[1] See: https://www.waterfordtreasures.com/event/memories-of-the-emergency/
[2] Quote commonly attributed to this historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Kelley is credited with helping to formalise the field of public history in the 1970s. In his foundational essay “Public History: Its Origins, Nature, and Prospects” (1978), Kelley outlined a vision of history practiced collaboratively with communities, emphasising that history should not be confined to academia but should engage and reflect the broader public.
[3] Curiously, even Reginald’s Tower in Waterford City, was repurposed as an air raid shelter during the Emergency period. See: https://www.theirishplace.com/heritage/jewel-waterfords-crown-reginalds-tower/
[4] See: https://www.historicalpicturearchive.com/shop/pictures/qx-00688/
[5] See: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2023/1117/1140447-ireland-emergency-second-world-war-food-drink-black-loaf-tea/
[6] “Over 330 years ago in 1690, Coffee House Lane, adjacent to the then busy trading port of Waterford, boasted what is long believed to be Ireland's first ever coffee house”, from Coffee House Lane’s website, see: https://coffeehouselane.ie/about-us/?srsltid=AfmBOoqNNaSizbvYPiJbIGlNj9vssq7B-TErIgK-0t5thKKtA5felEXe