Local History Week 4-12 May 2002 |
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The Historical Association is currently bringing together a wide range of national and local organisations to celebrate a week of Local History Events in May 2002. However, it is the local historians on the ground who do most to promote the study of local history, and a local history week would be nothing without their participation. We would be delighted if your organisation would consider becoming involved in the week's events. The idea is to create a network of societies and organisations of all kinds who are involved in history and to provide their events and activities with an unprecedented scale of national publicity. WHY LOCAL HISTORY?
WHEN? Local History Week is to be held from 4-12 May 2002. This date was chosen to coincide with Museums and Galleries month (for more information visit www.may2001.org.uk) so that they can also be involved in the local history theme. This can be a difficult time for schools, however, so they will be given information and activities during the preceding term for display during Local History Week. THE BENEFITS:
THE EVENTS: Each organisation will have its own idea of interesting and appropriate events for the week. Some might want to include events which they would hold anyway, while others might want to put on something special. There are no set guidelines on events - as long as they are relevant to the theme of local history. Some ideas are:
THE PLAN AND TIMESCALE: April 2001 - September 2001:
September 2001 - May 2002:
January - May 2002
4-12 May 2002:
PROGRESS SO FAR: On 7 April 2001 there was a meeting of national organisations to discuss the initial stages of Local History Week. Feedback had already been obtained from a wide range of local societies and organisations and the response was very enthusiastic with a general feeling that Local History and Historians should be celebrated in this way. Representatives from a lots of different organisations attended the meeting: Bntish Association for Local History, Museums and Galleries Month, The British Library, The British Society for the History of Science, Guardian Unlimited, English Heritage, The National Trust, The National Monuments Record, The Heritage Lottery Fund, BBC History Magazine, BBC, Federation of Family History Societies, The Institute of Historical Research, The University of the Third Age, The Victoria County History Project, History Online, Nuffleld Place, Channel 4, The British Record Association, Sutton Publishing, National Museums and Galleries of Wales, RLHRS, The Oral History Society, The Historical Manuscripts Commission, The Association of Local History Tutors, Ordnance Survey, Family History Monthly, The Local Historian/The Local History Press, The History Channel, History Data Archive. Representatives from other organisations promised their support but sent their apologies: The PRO, The Young Archaeologists Club, History Today, ENGAGE, Phillimore publishing, Age Exchange and British Waterways. At this meeting a the date of the week was finalised and also a number of other decisions were taken. It was agreed that the aims of the week should have some lasting value for local history and as a step in the right direction it was decided that some local history events which fell outside the limits of Local History Week might still be included in the publicity material. Keynote Events: The keynote event will take place on Saturday 11 May 2002 and will be organised jointly by the Historical Association, The Institute of Historical Research and the Victoria County History Project. The conference on Local History will include a major exhibition and take place at the Beveridge Hall in London. Further details will be available soon and we are currently discussing the possibility of video links to other events around the country and an online web discussion either before or after the event. Paul Blake form the Federation of Family History Societies also said there would be a Genealogy and Family History Fair on 4th May to start the week off. Sponsorship and Finance The Historical Association is actively seeking sponsorship for Local History Week and is discussing this with BBC History Magazine, Sutton Publishing and BALH. Nick Randell of the Heritage Lottery Fund also attended the meeting and outlined the Awards for All scheme and how it might be used to help fund projects relating to Local History Week. The scheme invites applications from local and community groups for grants of between £500 and £5000 and favours organisations with less than £15 000 annual income. The money is paid for projects up front and no partnership funding is necessary. Local History Societies are mentioned explicitly as a target audience for these grants, which can be used to fund events and activities, equipment, publicity, transport and fees/expenses. For more information about these grants please visit the website at www.awardsforall.org.uk or phone 0845 600 2040. Publicity and the Website: The main form of publicity for specific events will be via the website, which should be online in October 2001. This will allow for the constant alterations and updates necessary with such a wide-ranging event. The website can also include details of local organisations and link in to societies/organisations own websites. The Historical Association is currently seeking sponsorship for a printed flyer as well, which might outline some of the main events of the week. A large number of organisations with publications have also promised full editorial support for Local History Week, including BBC History magazine, The Local Historian, Family History Monthly, Local History News, certain National Trust publications, Heritage News (published by English Heritage) and several others. this should provide the event - and consequently the Historical Association - with an unprecedented scale of national publicity. The Historical Association is also hoping to bring out special editions of its own publications before Local History Week. Local societies might also wish to contact their local media with information about events. Education and Competitions: The Historical Assodation is currently preparing some information for schools, which should be ready to go up on our own website in Autumn/Winter 2001. Other organisations were also invited to consider school involvement and discussions are currently underway with Actis (History Online) and Sutton publishing about specific school related projects. There will also be some competitions for local history publications and groups, which are being devised at present. Any information about activities in this area already established would be much appreciated and might be given additional publicity. Our aim is not to duplicate existing projects and we are trying to collect a database of educational publications in print relating to local history and a list of competitions. The Next Step: I hope very much that you will consider putting on an event in Local History Week - perhaps even in conjunction with other local organisations. Please let me know about your plans as early as possible, whether by filling in the form enclosed, or by emailing me with details of your event - even if arrangements are far from finalised and if you have any queries or suggestions I would be very interested to hear them. My phone number is 0207 735 2021 and email is suzanne.cawsey@history.org.uk I believe that together we can make Local History Week a very exciting event and demonstrate how many things are going on already at a local and regional level. I also hope it will attract new visitors to historical events locally. I am very much looking forward to working with you all on this project and to hearing you ideas. The Historical Association will try to keep everyone up to date with developments. E-mail is our preferred method of contact so if you have an email address please let me know. However, we will post out details to people who haven't got access to email. Suzanne Cawsey |