MUSSE

Helen McLaughlin, Principal Archivist, University of Melbourne Archives.

Name: Helen McLaughlin

What is your organisational unit? University of Melbourne Archives (UMA)

What is your job title? Principal Archivist

How long have you been with the University of Melbourne? I was here briefly in 2000, but took up my current position in May 2006.

Prior to working at Melbourne, where were you located and what was your role? Manager, Business Records with Victoria Police.

Describe your typical day? I don’t have a typical day – I could be meeting donors, dealing with researchers in our Reading Room in the Baillieu, out looking at potential additions to the collection, curating an exhibition, preparing grant applications, dealing with day-to-day management issues or delving into the records and artefacts we hold at the offsite repository in Brunswick.

What is it about your job that holds your interest or is particularly satisfying? I love the multiplicity of interests that UMA represents and am fascinated by the range of people that walk through our doors and the diverse collections we hold. You can find a mining company manager rubbing shoulders with a greenie or a left-wing trade unionist, as we don’t only collect University records. It makes for a very stimulating mix.

What is your favourite destination and why? Scotland. I was there last year and fell in love with the country’s starkness and beauty and great people.

What is the best piece of advice you have received? If you wait for the right time, it will never arrive.

What is something about yourself that most of your colleagues wouldn’t know? I suffer from vertigo.

What was the drawcard in taking a job at the University? The privilege of working with such a varied group of people and a unit that collects, manages and provides access to the historical records of the University, Victorian business, trade unions and other labour organisations, community and cultural organisations, as well as the personal papers of many individuals.

What do you like about the University? The campus is beautiful, and University House is wonderful!