Last Friday I visited a conference called Is England's Past for Everyone? Learning and Outreach in the Historic Environment. The conference was organised by England's Past for Everyone, a Lottery-funded local history project run by the Victoria County History.
The theme of the conference was how to involve communities in their local history, through publishing, online resources, volunteering and working with schools. The keynote address was delivered by Baroness Andrews, the new head of English Heritage, who spoke about projects to engage local communities with their industrial and natural heritage, and endorsed the conference's theme that "history belongs to local people".
Other speakers discussed the challenges and opportunities posed to local history publishing by new media; and developing online resources including English Heritage's ViewFinder online image library.
The highlight for me was a guided walk around central Bristol led by Andy Foyle, author of the Pevsner guide to Bristol, learning both about its architectural heritage and some local victims of the Blitz. It was a poignant reminder that history is inseparable from people's lives.
Image: Crown Copyright NMR
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