Hello, my name is Tim Hamilton. I’m a white male with brown hair and blue eyes. My pronouns are He / Him and They / Them.
At my place of work, I have fried fish and chips, boiled and rolled Dandelion and Burdock flavoured ‘suck’ and dressed up as both a Victorian Baker and 1950’s Ice Cream man… If you haven’t already guessed; I work at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley. I currently form part of the Collections Care and Management Team helping take care of the 80,000 plus objects which have been acquired from local businesses and donated by people in the community over the last 50 years, all of which contributes to telling the story of the Black Country.
If I’m honest I came to the museum sector in quite a roundabout way. Most of my early adult life I worked in interior design and was always being asked by my clients where I’d been to university. Having grown up in the context of a low income, single parent household and being diagnosed with ADHD at an early age; a university education had never been on the cards for me and I didn’t know of any family members who had been to university either. Succumbing to peer pressure, I enrolled on the history undergrad at the Open University in the summer of 2016. As it was, of course, long distance study I supplemented my learning with a hands on volunteer role at Birmingham Museums Trust doing conservation cleaning in the historic properties. While volunteering I met so many fascinating people from students to retirees and all manner of museum professionals with different interests and specialisms. I realised quite quickly I’d found ‘my people’ so-to-speak and decided to make a career for myself in museums. Making that goal a reality was easier said than done; I worked nights, I took casual and zero hour roles for the experience, and I continued to volunteer on my days off. I truly believe hard work is good for the soul and looking back at how far I’ve come - I wouldn’t change one moment of it.
I have the Open University to thank for opening the door for me to apply to University of Oxford’s Advance Diploma in Local History. It was a year of study I will never forget. It not only equipped me the tool kit for undertaking local history research but a deep appreciation for the commitment and enthusiasm local historians demonstrate when attempting to shine a light on all our underrepresented and often hidden histories. In my spare time, I can be found putting some of what I learned at Oxford into practice by way of writing a Black Country local history segment for West Midlands Magazines.
In my museum role I’m an advocate and activist for underrepresented groups in museum collections including the LGBTQ+ community, people with visible and invisible disabilities and those with minority and ethnic backgrounds. In my role as a BALH trustee I aim to humbly bring my perspective as a museum professional to the table as well as being an advocate for the use and co-curation of museum collections in, and as a result of, local history research.
