We are proud to have developed a track record of offering a range of internships and education opportunities, (both free and fee paying) providing invaluable hands on experience of working with historic documents and artefacts in their original context, and supporting people to take the next steps in a career in the heritage sector.
Internships have empowered students with projects within material, digital or archive collections, the opportunity to curate exhibitions and much more.
We have delivered these placements in partnership with Leicester University Museum Studies (MA), individual experts, as well as independently.
Develop your career at Cotesbach…
Testimonials
Grace, ‘Digital Collections’ Placement, Summer 2022
“During my placement at the CET, I learned how to navigate an archive, contributed to cataloguing projects, and looked at the story of the trust itself to understand how this strange and magical place came to be.
In particular spending time in the archive and getting to know how collections are organised, with emphasis on original order, has been useful as I undertake primary research for my MPhil in early modern history. Facing a stack of unstudied archival material can be pretty daunting, but knowing how collection codes and finding aids work and what they indicate has been a real advantage here.
Outside of the archive it was rewarding and instructive to be involved in the granular life of a heritage site. I enjoyed being involved in the Heritage Open Day at the end of my stay, showing visitors what I’d been up to and sharing Cotesbach with them. I feel lucky to have been introduced to the wonderful surrounding community whose artistic, commercial and environmental endeavours are supported by the trust.”
Abbie, ‘Material Culture’ Placement, Summer 2022
“I feel that working at Cotesbach over the summer has helped with gaining some important skills which aided in landing my first job in the heritage industry. I now work as a Volunteering and Community Assistant at the Children’s Country House at Sudbury which is owned by the National Trust. I refined many transferrable skills such as working alongside volunteers, collection handling and collection documentation. Sophy and others were also happy to help with job applications either by sharing useful literature or by taking time to have a chat about them. As a small team with a lot to do, there is a lot of opportunity to develop new skills which look great on a CV. A major aspect of my placement was the production of an exhibition themed around my interest in domestic servant histories. Creating this exhibition was the perfect way to put all that I had learnt during my Museum Studies MA to the test. With support from Sophy I planned and installed an immersive exhibition alongside designing an information leaflet to display alongside it. I have often found myself talking about the process of creating the exhibition during interviews. It is a really useful bit of experience to form answers around a range of questions as there was such a wide range of work that went into creating it.
I would summarise Cotesbach as a unique heritage site, warm and welcoming and brimming with histories of all kinds. It is bustling with life and any student spending a summer there will surely enjoy getting to know both the estate and the people who live there.
