I would like to thank my supervisors Prof. Graham Smith at Newcastle University and Prof. Mark Bailey at Northumbria University for giving me freedom in my research, trusting my process, and guiding me throughout. I am also indebted to my supervisors Emma Thomas, the general manager at Seaton Delaval Hall, and Jo Moody, the cultural heritage curator for the National Trust in the north. The access and insights they provided to the inner workings of the Trust and the Hall from collection policies to carpark duties were invaluable to this study.  

I would like to acknowledge my funding body Northern Bridge Consortium for funding this research and providing me with the means to complete my placements. 

I would like to thank the entire team at Seaton Delaval Hall for helping me in my research, most significantly in recruiting oral history participants and obtaining the copyright permission for the oral histories to be archived (we got there in the end). I also am thankful to the teams at Archives at NCBS in Bangaluru and the oral history department in the British Library for allowing me to pick their brains on everything archive and copyright. 

I would also like to acknowledge my colleagues in the Newcastle University Oral History Unit and Collective for the support they have given me throughout my research. I am particularly grateful for the help they gave me as a (initial) newbie to oral history. Similarly, I would like to thank my more design-inclined colleagues at Northumbria University for advising on the design elements of my work. 

I am also grateful to the many participants of my workshops and the various individuals who offered an hour in their day for me to bombard them with questions about working in archives and heritage sites. Most importantly I am thankful to the thirteen participants of my oral history interviews.

Also thank you to Sandra, Roseanna, and Clare for helping me navigate university admin and Graham’s diary. 

And naturally, thank you to my family and friends. To Mama, who did not know why I would do this to myself but helped me anyway (everyone needs a good editor). To Dad, who does not know exactly what I do all day, but obviously supported me. To Sammie and Lilou, the latter of which did their utmost to distract me at every turn. To Johan, who at the last minute went through my writing with a fine comb. And to the rest who checked my grammar, climbed with me, talked with me, listened to me, drank pints with me, fed me, and generally kept me alive.

And finally, to my cat Pluk you are the spawn of Satan and I hate you. Please never leave me.