Hello!

Hi all,

My name is Meg Dolan. That’s me on the left there in my Official Back To Uni Again (Again) 2019 photo.

I’m in the Collections and Curating Practices research Masters course at the University of Edinburgh, and if you’re reading this, you probably are too.

I sort of meandered my way towards this programme through my entire academic and professional career so far. I hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), worked as a graphic designer at a publishing company for a few years after, then went back to school and attained a Master of Science in History from University of Edinburgh in 2017. I then went back to MCAD and worked in dual roles as the Photography Media Technology Specialist running the darkrooms, and Media Circulation Coordinator helping students and faculty work with exhibition technology. Along the way I’ve served in temporary capacities as the Philosopher in Residence at The Museum of Everyday Life (MoEL) in Glover, Vermont, USA in 2011 and as the Volunteer Archivist for the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home (EDCH) in 2017. I see this programme an excellent way to knit all my previous experiences and skill sets together, and move me forward along a succinct path towards working in the collections sector.

I’m incredibly excited to work with National Library of Scotland through this guided research placement. Having worked with collections before through my work with MoEL and EDCH, as well as with exhibition technology at MCAD, I’m excited to face the challenges presented, think outside the box as much as possible, and to just have a lot of fun with this, and I’m honored to get to do so at the behest of such an amazing institution. I hope to really push the limits of what we can do with digital options for digital materials, and to be able to experiment with the possibilities in the way maybe a normal contracted company wouldn’t be able to, while also delivering something incredible at the end.

Outside of the programme I enjoy cheesy chips, exciting earrings, coming 4th in pubquizzes, and fencing épée for the Edinburgh University Women’s Second Team.

Lovely to meet you! See you soon!