Last month, MAGS organised an online talk with Tracy Borman, joint Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces (HRP – see https://www.hrp.org.uk/). Tracy has had a fascinating career and it was a pleasure to host her as a guest speaker – she even gave us some top tips and answered our questions in a Q&A!
Tracy Borman. Credit: Richard Lea-Hair/Historic Royal Palaces
Tracy’s love of history unites her various roles – historian, author, broadcaster, curator... the list goes on. She grew up in the historic city of Lincoln, and a summer job dressing up and giving tours at Lincoln Castle ignited her passion for sharing history with the public. While studying a BA, MA and PhD at the University of Hull, the idea of working in heritage really took root, particularly during her MA in Historical Research where she was able to work with original documents and developed a love for archival research. Her PhD centred on Elizabeth I, and she volunteered as an Education Officer at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire alongside her studies. This stood her in good stead to pursue a fulfilling career in heritage after graduation!
As Tracy wanted to work in a national heritage institution, she moved down to London, where she temped in admin jobs before finally getting her big break at the National Archives. She was Education and Events Manager there before moving on to be Head of Events at English Heritage for seven years, overseeing events like reenactments.
By this point, Tracy had begun her writing career, so she decided to go part-time and divide her time between two roles – one at the Heritage Education Trust charity (https://www.heritageeducationtrust.org/), of which she is now Chief Executive, and the other at HRP as Head of Interpretation. From there she progressed into curation, something that she finds goes hand-in-hand with interpretation, and was appointed Joint Chief Curator at HRP (she job-shares with Lucy Worsley). She has had this role for ten years now and it involves researching the history of the palaces in HRP’s care and communicating this with the public. This research about the buildings and people who lived there often results in groundbreaking exhibitions and displays, such as The Lost Dress of Elizabeth I in 2019.
HRP look after six iconic palaces and the team of curators is spread across the sites. Tracy spends most of her time at Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London, and she even got married at the Tower (one perk of the job!). She says that the Tower is her favourite site, but the project she is most proud of actually took place at Hampton Court and is called the Magic Garden (see https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/the-magic-garden/#gs.rtlf0v).
Tracy has also appeared on television, including in the Who Do You Think You Are episode with Danny Dyer, and stresses the importance of communication skills in her job especially given the amount of public speaking and media work she does. Many documentaries have been made about the royal palaces and you can find these on BBC iPlayer and Channel 5. Even Bridgerton has been filmed at Hampton Court Palace! Filming does help with funding, especially as HRP are looking to change their pricing policy in the future to make the palaces more accessible and inclusive for a wider, more diverse audience.
In terms of her writing career, Tracy missed researching and writing after finishing university so began writing alongside her heritage career. She has been an author in print since 2007 and has written 15 books, mostly non-fiction about the Tudors but more recently a trilogy of historical fiction. You can find these books on Amazon and in any good bookshops! She also does book tours which allow her to travel a lot.
While she didn’t start with a thought-out plan, and currently balances many different roles, Tracy finds her career extremely rewarding and this definitely inspired us when listening to her speak so passionately about the heritage sector. She was also kind enough to give attendees some top tips for our future careers in the museum and heritage sector:
Study history or a museums-related subject
Volunteer whilst studying or after
Build up your experience and contacts
Take any job you can in the sector as this will help your CV
Look out for volunteering and internship schemes e.g. at English Heritage, HRP, National Trust
Thank you Tracy for such an inspirational talk!
To find out more, follow her on social media and check out her website.
Twitter @TracyBorman
Instagram @tracy.borman
Website http://www.tracyborman.co.uk/
You can find the slides from Tracy’s presentation here: