In his talk, Tom offered us a wealth of insights drawing on his journey from academia into the heritage sector, covering the challenges of working in an institution as large and high profile as the British Museum, and all the things he had learnt in his first few months in the job – from navigating the labyrinthine corridors to the pests that we heard infest various parts of the building and have to be kept contained! Especially interesting was Tom’s explanation of the massive reorganisation that the galleries are undergoing at the moment and the challenges he faces in dealing with issues such as restitution, making the Classical world more accessible and representative while retaining coherence and giving the public ‘what they want’, and the exciting possibilities that all of this opens up for redisplaying and reinterpreting some of the objects in the collections.
We look forward to our first full year of Lincolnshire Classical Association events in 2023-24, and we can only hope that these will live up to the high bar set by Tom in his inaugural talk! If you’re interested in joining the branch or finding more out about our work then please contact Giustina at gmonti@lincoln.ac.uk.
