BCA Career Spotlight: Collections and Research Manager
Spotlight on: Dr. Hannah Ishmael
Co-founder of Black Cultural Archives, Len Garrison reflected that somebody must rescue, retrieve, and protect Black History. Dr Hannah Ishmael, Collections and Research Manager at Black Cultural Archives, is one such ‘somebody’. It is why she undertook her PhD on the developmental how and why of Black-led archives in London and explored Black Archival thought and practice. It underpins her motivation to look after the collections we have at Windrush Square so that they last and as many people as possible can access them through research, exhibitions, and workshops.
Hannah did not know what career path she wanted to follow and went to university to study History and Philosophy hoping, as so many others do, that it would become apparent by the end of her course. It did not! It was a psychometric personality test carried out on a careers website that put the role of ‘archivist’ on her radar, and she went on to do an MA in archives record management soon after. Hannah feels her almost accidental journey into archiving mirrors that of her peers, who often relay that they ‘fell’ into the role or that their journey was a matter of ‘right place, right time’, and she thus wants to bring more attention to archiving and other ‘hidden’ roles so more people are aware, can make concerted career choices, and diversification of the sector can be brought about.
The support of Hannah's family meant that she was able to supplement the theoretical archival knowledge gained at university with practical voluntary experience. She knows that not everybody has the means to carry out unpaid volunteering and internship opportunities and sees them as one of the biggest barriers to dismantling the elitism endemic in the arts. Whilst she cannot oversee the sector-wide eradication of unpaid posts, she is conscious to ensure that individuals volunteering with BCA are paid for their time as much as possible.
Alongside practices to make the sector more equitable, Hannah spends her days answering emails, delivering bespoke workshops centred around material within the archives, and meeting people interested in donating collections they have often spent a lifetime amassing. Though interested in all stories and narratives, Hannah uses the BCA collection policy to determine what is and is not adopted into our annals, with documents focusing on individuals and organisations who have worked with Black communities in Britain taking precedence. Whilst donators are mostly of Afro-Caribbean descent, the accession of documents from white anti-racist activist Chris Searle proves there are exceptions to the rule, with the historical insight provided by and impact of particular donations deemed more important than the skin colour of the donator.
Though Hannah does not have a favourite donation or document, viewing all pieces of the collection as worthy of the same level of care, attention, and promotion, she cites the deposit from mental health activist Melba Wilson OBE, which was catalogued with funding from the Wellcome Trust, as the donation that has most shaped her thinking on the direction of the archives and the organisation as a whole. Hannah wants the archives to play a bigger role in determining the conversation around health and wellbeing in the community and be front and centre in its improvement. She is busy planning a programme of events to bring this about – watch this space!
Schools: Seeing Ourselves Workshops
Did you know that we offer interactive 'Seeing Ourselves Workshops' aimed at raising career aspirations in the arts for children in Key Stage 1? Explore different roles in the arts and heritage sector with associated characters 5-7 year olds might better relate to:
Conservator (Superhero), Archivist (Explorer), Curator (Storyteller) and Artist (Spy).