New ITP Volunteer!

Hello everyone! I’m here to introduce myself, but I’m never sure how best to do it! To start, my name is Emma Quarnstrom, and I’m currently a graduate student in Cultural Heritage Studies at UCL here in London. I’ve come by way of Washington D.C., where I worked for a battlefield preservation non-profit; Oxford, England, where I received my first masters in Medieval History (very useful, for someone from the U.S.); and Wisconsin, a state in the Midwest of the U.S. that borders with Canada. Academically, my interests tend to revolve around ideas of identity, subaltern representation in heritage space, and early British history, between the 4^th and 7^th centuries.

Outside of academia, I’m all over the place. I love to cook and bake, and spend most of my visits home with my parents baking in our Swedish bakery (or doing the dishes – there are always dishes to wash!). At home in Wisconsin, I have three cats, a big backyard, and live in a very small town with my mom and dad, Joyce and Gordon. We all like going kayaking and cycling together, having a bonfire in the backyard in the summer with s’mores, and having a bonfire in the winter with s’mores – and extra layers of clothes. Oh, and Wisconsin IS cold in the winter, but it’s also very hot in the summer! We don’t always live under piles of snow 🙂

I’m also a huge fan of theatre and musicals, and have seen Rent three times, Les Misérables twice, Wicked twice, The Lion King, The Producers, and a myriad of Shakespeare’s plays, including Hamlet in Stratford-Upon-Avon and Richard II here in London at the Globe Theatre. I enjoy going to see live music shows, big or small, and always appreciate a chance to dance a bit.

I’m so pleased to be working with the ITP for the next 6 months! It’s a fantastic programme, and I’m thrilled to be part of making it happen this year. In my role, I’m going to be using some IT skills I’ve learned to work on developing a way for alumni – you lovely people! – to communicate more easily with one another, and to keep the British Museum updated on your work and exciting careers. We’d like it to be an innovative platform that helps you maintain the great relationships you’ve already made with one another during the programme, and also shows potential applicants what ITP can do for them, their skillsets, and careers. I’ll be reaching out to as many of you as I can in the coming weeks, and am looking forward to e-meeting you all!