In the second of a series of pieces exploring the careers of graduates from Kent's MA in Heritage Management offered at our Athens Centre, we talk to Glenn Martin to find out about his work at the National Army Museum in New Zealand.
What is your current role and what does it involve?
Glenn Martin: I am the Registrar for the National Army Museum in New Zealand. The role involves the documentation of collection items, accessioning, cataloguing, writing condition reports, museum object loans and more. It also involves managing the Collection Management System database and keeping this maintained.
All object enquiries come through me as the first point of contact, which often involves meeting with donors to discuss their donation to the museum. I need to make sure that they understand the legal aspects of gifting objects to the museum and that the conditions of the donation are made clear from the start.
What is your favourite aspect of the job?
I love working with objects, and I feel very honoured to be a part of preserving collection objects and the history of the people that they represent.
Why did you choose the Heritage Management MA offered by Kent and AUEB?
There were a couple of reasons that made the choice an easy one for me. I was looking for a course which would give me the skills and knowledge broad enough to reach most aspects of the Culture and Heritage Sector, so that I had more opportunity and employability in this sector.
The other reason that made the course so attractive was the location in Greece. Having studied Ancient History during my undergraduate degree, I felt that Greece was perfect to learn about Heritage Management in a place blessed to be so rich in history.
What skills did you learn and how did this help in your career? How would you say you manage heritage in a different way because of your training?
The wide scope of the course allowed me to grasp the many issues involved in managing heritage and gave me some of the skills/knowledge to address these issues. It allowed me to understand more about the agents of decay, to preserve heritage in the physical sense, but also to think beyond the physical, to try to understand the values and the story that objects represent. This is often the most important thing to preserve, and the easiest to lose.
For my job, this involves talking with donors and their family in order to extract as much information as possible and to document this. Information about the provenance of the object, who used it, where is it from, conflicts involved in and so on. An object with no background is often just an object, but one with a story can really bring it to life, especially for exhibition displays.
What would you say to anyone considering the course?
I can honestly say that this was one of the most enjoyable times of my life and I think you’ll find that most students from the course will say something very similar.
What do you think the impact of the Heritage Management Organization (formerly known as the Initiative for Heritage conservation) is on heritage and possibly for your work?
The Heritage Management Organization continues to benefit heritage all around the world, and help to support people who work and study in the field by offering a range of courses and funding opportunities.