Craig Campbell

12 Apr

I completed a joint honours degree in History and Creative Writing at the University of Derby before moving to London and working at the British Library. I worked as a librarian, a preservation assistant in the National Sound Archive and an archivist for the Sound Archive, where I gained expert knowledge in archival practice.

I volunteered as archivist for The Golden Hinde Trust, a living history museum telling the story of Sir Francis Drake. I helped to organize and arrange The Drake Navigators Guild Archive in Marin County, California, assisting the National Park Service. These collections hold a wealth of research and data relating to the life and voyages of Francis Drake, and it was a great privilege to steer them towards preservation and public access.

I studied a Masters Degree in Archaeological Practice, at Birkbeck University of London, completing this with Distinction. I made the leap into developer funded archaeology, working with units around the country such as University of Leicester Archaeological Services, Museum of London Archaeology, Northern Archaeological Association and Canterbury Archaeological Trust, amongst others. This furnished me with first hand experience of the archaeological processes and allowed me the rare opportunity to handle artefacts from the full extent of British History and Prehistory.

I returned to the British Library in 2018 when I was offered a unique opportunity as Leading Library Assistant for a project to digitise the Kings and Royal Manuscript collections. Following this I was promoted to Curatorial Assistant in the British Library’s India Office.

In 2020 I was awarded a CHASE scholarship to study the Late Iron Age landscapes of London. My PhD thesis will be the first to comprehensively map the development of pre-Roman London and river activity from this region of the Thames.

I am extremely pleased to be joining the Kent Archaeological Society in the role of Society Archivist and Librarian. I have been a member of the Society ever since my family and I moved to Kent 5 years ago, and I have had the immense pleasure of being involved in a number of Society led excavations and events. Please feel free to say hello anytime. If I can help in any way, I will endeavour to do so.