Jen Kavanagh

Capturing and presenting community voices is so important for ensuring our collections are representative, diverse and engaging for our visitors. I have experience of working on a range of oral history projects. These include:

• Cadet Voices: Capturing experiences of former St John Ambulance Cadets with the Museum of the Order of St John, 2022-23

• Caribbean Garden Heritage: Interviewing Caribbean diaspora gardeners in London for the Garden Museum, 2021

• Bow Street Police Museum: Collecting stories of former Bow Street officers for the Metropolitan Police heritage collection, 2020

• Echoes of Holloway Prison: Supporting a project on the history of Holloway Prison with Islington Museum, 2018

• Fighting for our Rights: Managed a HLF funded oral history project with Kingston Centre for Independent Living, 2016-18

• Thames Festival Trust: Supported the collecting of interviews for Thames Festival Trust's 'Life Afloat', 'Boatyards' and ‘World’s Oldest Boat Race’ projects, 2016-18

• Punk London: Conducting interviews with punks for the Museum of London's Punk London programme, 2016

• London Transport Museum: Managing the digitisation of London Transport Museum's oral history collection, 2015-16

• Tattoo London: Contemporary interviews with London-based tattoo artists for the Museum of London, 2015

• Information Age: Conducting interviews with former manual telephone exchange operators for the Information Age gallery at the Science Museum, 2013-14

I am available for bespoke oral history training, having delivered workshops for a range of museums and organisations including:

• Staff and volunteers at organisations including the Science Museum, London Transport Museum, Islington Museum and the Museum of London

• Community volunteers at the British Museum, Thames Festival Trust, Tamil Information Centre Kingston and the Muslin Trust

• External practitioners who are undertaking independent oral history projects

Feedback from attendees:

"Thank you so much for the Oral History Training on Friday, everyone said how great the training was. One volunteer mentioned that it was so good to have someone who not only has a wealth of experience but made the training really easy to follow and enjoyable."

- Curator, London Transport Museum

“Thanks again for the training. It really was a great starting point for our interviews. I definitely feel a lot more confident with how to approach the interviews and may practice on some of my relatives!”

- Volunteer, Tamil Information Centre