Unearthing St Marys Abbey at the Yorkshire Museum

This summer the Yorkshire Museum was delighted to host Yingqi Gao, who joined the curatorial team during a very busy year. Previously, in summer 2023, we hosted Louisa Emms. I also did my own Museum Studies MA at Leicester in 2015-16, with a summer placement at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester. Leicester’s Museum Studies students have made invaluable contributions to our museum, and it is a pleasure to host them.

The Yorkshire Museum is part of York Museums Trust. It is the third oldest purpose-built museum in England, housing archaeology and natural science collections.  The museum sits alongside the medieval ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey, within botanical gardens in the centre of York.  Yingqi was particularly interested in St. Mary’s Abbey because of her background in historic buildings conservation. We asked her to create a research report about the site, proposing new ways to share its story with visitors. This will feed into a long-term project to reinterpret York Museum Gardens.

As well as her research, Yingqi helped us to deliver a wide range of curatorial projects.  These included auditing a Mesolithic archaeological archive, photographing birds for an upcoming exhibition, preparing Roman objects for a school handling box, and auditing Treasure for the Portable Antiquities Scheme. She also had the exciting opportunity to shadow filming for a new BBC series, ‘Lucy Worsley Investigates’. Yingqi worked incredibly hard throughout a jam-packed summer of activities and enthusiastically rose to every new challenge.

Placement students are an important part of our team, meaningfully contributing to the museum’s work while furthering their own professional development and interests. My own Leicester placement was a fantastic experience and an invaluable career stepping stone.  As a placement host, I hope to pay forward the support and opportunities that shaped my early career. We wish Yingqi every success and are very grateful for her help.

Emily North, Associate Collections Curator, York Museums Trust