6 months

I just put the kettle on and already it's June. I can remember starting my new job, standing in the kitchen with its blue laminate floor, making tea. Flicking the switch, to boil the water, to wet the teabag, stir in the milk and drink. I couldn't possibly count the number of cups of tea and coffee i've drank over the past 6 months but its a lot (at a guess 720). The tea gives me a minute to relax, no thinking, searching or talking.
Aside from the tea I've spent six months learning from one of the best local history librarians in Scotland, Graham Hopner. It has truly been an honour and an education working with Graham. I wish he wasn't retiring tomorrow, I still have so much to learn from him. The history is there, the records, cuttings, books but it's the life that Graham breathes into each piece of history that makes the understanding all the easier.
Looking back over the months I've used Wordle to devise a word cloud of the enquires and documents I've worked on.

Looking through my files the first email enquiry I received was from Glasgow Museums looking for information on Dumbarton Art School. 
The school has it's origins within Dumbarton Burgh Academy; it was set up in the attic flat of the academy in 1882. The school was begun after a meeting on the 21st Nov 1882 of interested parties to create an art school, initiated by Mr. William Denny of the Leven Shipyard. The school was only used for a month in the attic flat of the Burgh Academy as a fire destroyed the building after the school started operating. A plumber carelessly knocked over a candle whilst installing some pipe work.The Dumbarton Burgh Academy was rebuilt in 1884 and the School of Art moved into more spacious accommodation, the cost of which was £1000 pounds provided by Mr. William Denny and friends. Early in the 20th Century the school was named the Dumbarton School of Science and Art.It wasn't the history of the school that intested me the most but a photograph of the interior. It has became an iconic image for me.

Dumbarton Art School © West Dunbartonshire Libraries