So I
got a new job. This is a very exciting time for me; it’s my first non-retail
job and, in theory, will mark my transition from retail into big girl work
forever. That is if I get a publishing job at the end of the year. Although
this job will exist until around 2014, so I guess I’m set to not work retail
again.
I've been working since I took over my sister’s paper run in Taupo back when my age
was a single digit. Since then, I’ve worked in a bakery, sold home goods, made
smoothies and salads, given advice on a variety of sporting goods, as well as
sold books, organised your post and taken your coffee orders. There’s also a
chance I’ve also yelled at you if you were undergrad at some point in the past two
years.
I quite
like my CV, it shows the crazy amount of things I’ve done since 2004, and there’s
never been a job I didn’t like – just ones that didn’t turn out quite as well
as I’d have liked in the end.
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| ANZAC Cove, from my school trip in 2006. |
So this
new first non-retail job of mine is at Archives NZ. Fancy, I know; I even get a
swipe card with my picture on it. I’m in the Digital Copy Centre from 7-9am
every weekday scanning NZDF World War I soldier files, so they can be uploaded
to Archway. From here, anyone can access them. I’m an easily distracted person,
so I listen to music while working in an effort to concentrate better. However,
that doesn’t stop random words and sentences jumping out at me from the files.
I had
the file of a soldier who had previously served two years in the Army but had
been discharged; the reasons for this weren’t given. However, he was deemed
medically unfit to serve in WWI due to problems with his eyes; I assume this
may have been the reason for his discharge. Just his willingness to serve for
his country made me think a lot about what must have been running through his
mind when he signed up and was told he couldn’t fight. Makes you wonder.
The other
day I had my first Killed in Action soldier. Which was followed by another one.
And I just couldn’t stop thinking about these men, who had both died early into
the war, how they were just young guys that probably thought they were
invincible, going off on their daring adventure and never returned. Since that
red ‘K.I.A’ stamp was struck down on the yellowed paper, there’s a chance I’m
the first person since then to touch this record. The NZDF have gone through
and put some of the papers on to microfilm, so those chances are greatly
diminishing, but there’s still something special to me about being the person
that gets to digitalise and immortalise on the internet soldiers’ lives and
service records. People use Archway every day; families to find their loved
ones, schools for projects, and I have no doubt Historians use it for research.
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| A poppy wedged in to the NZ Memorial at Gallipoli, 2006. |
However,
the one soldier that has really jumped out and stuck with me was a gentleman
who began his service in 1918, but was discharged in 1919 due to being “no
longer physically fit for War Service on account of illness contracted on
Active Service”. Bit of a mouthful. The main reason this man stood out at for
me, though, was his occupation. Neatly written at the top of his history sheet
was ‘Bookbinder’. Bookbinder. There are thousands of files to scan, and I happen
to pick up a bookbinder’s. I thought it tied my current study and his life
together quite well.
I said
earlier this scanning job will exist until 2014; Archives have said they will
digitalise all NZDF WWI personnel files by 2014 – the centenary of World War I.
This job fuels my love of History while I’m busy studying to be a publisher, instead
of doing History Honours as I intended. This beautiful balance between work, study,
and lifestyle is more than I could ever ask for; 2012’s coming up great so far.
