Archive Researchers

Featuring: Tamsyn van Gelderen, Johannesburg

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You have degrees in journalism and animal management. How did you combine your passions for these subjects with your career of media production and archival research?

I got into journalism purely because I liked writing, was good at it and because I didn’t make the grades required for vet school (becoming a vet was a dream from the age of four). I decided to go for my Animal Science degree in a fit of pique (and terror as I had just turned 40!) when I broke up with a boyfriend. While I was busy with that, I decided I wanted to work for National Geographic and combine my writing skills with my passion for animals. Fortunately, I found work with a film company (Aquavision TV Productions) in South Africa that allowed me to do just that. (more…)

Archive Researchers

Featuring: Melody Howse, Berlin

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You have a background in art and design, how did you become an archival researcher?

I started working in archive during my first job in TV in around the year 2000. It was for a court room drama reconstruction series with a limited budget. We were looking for ways to tell the story about some of the worlds most ingenious criminal minds, I was finding archive as part of the research process and after that most jobs I got in TV included some kind of archive research either through request or through me bringing it to the production. I became an archive researcher kind of by accident but it was a natural marriage of interest and skill which culminated in my work on Exit through the Gift Shop. Most of my work is still with UK companies even though I’m based in Berlin.  (more…)