Hello, I’m Sarah Fairhurst, Collections Manager at Guildford Museum, home to a large and significant archaeological collection. The collection includes many items owned by the Surrey Archaeological Society who, in 1898, founded the museum we have here today.

When working with museum collections there is no such thing as a typical working day for me. My job includes caring for and documenting objects, undertaking research, and working with colleagues to interpret and share the collections as widely as possible.

Have you ever wondered what happens to finds once they are excavated on archaeological digs? Many will find new homes in museums and heritage services, such as Guildford Museum.

Whenever a new excavation is planned within Guildford and the borough, archaeologists will contact me to find out if Guildford Heritage Service can take any finds they might discover. If we can accept the finds, after the dig has finished the archaeological units will prepare them for donation. They sort, clean, and pack the finds, as well as numbering each find and bag with its site and context numbers. I also give the archaeologists a unique museum accession to add to the finds.

When the archaeological finds arrive with us, that is when the fun starts! Firstly, we ensure we store the archaeological finds correctly to preserve them for the future. We spend time documenting them and providing access for researchers.

Sharing our collections as widely as possible is an important part of the work of our museum team, through events, activities and displays. At Guildford Museum the archaeology collections are the focus of our Prehistory, Roman, Saxon and Medieval displays. Our recent project to photograph all the archaeology objects on display in the Prehistory and Roman Galleries will help us to share and interpret the collections digitally and through social media. Some of the objects are tiny and photography allows us to see them up close and discover their hidden patterns, such as the Palaeolithic hand axe above and the Microliths in the images.

In 2022 our winter exhibition at Guildford Museum will be all about archaeology and our collections. That may seem like a long time ahead, but I’m working with exhibition colleagues right now to research objects and themes, planning how to display the objects, and preparing engaging interpretation.