Previous events

12 - Hands On History

Rachel Silverson, Community History Officer at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, has completed a project to create five object-handling resources as part of the ‘Hands on History’ project, using funding allocated to the museum by Renaissance East Midlands. The project has specifically created loan resources for community groups in Northamptonshire.

As part of the project, five British artists were commissioned to design and produce vessels which reflected the objects that they contained. The resources are based on several themes: the First World War, Crime and Punishment, Archaeology, Shoes Being Fit for Purpose and finally an audio resource created in partnership with Northamptonshire Black History Association.

The audio Globe was designed by the Wellingborough artist Daxa Parmar, and was created to discuss the theme of people’s experiences of moving to Northampton from their different countries of origin. This is experienced through six oral history recordings that were recorded by NBHA, and includes the experiences of people who have moved to Northampton from Bangladesh, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Liberia and Montserrat.

The resource takes the form of a globe that opens up into six segments; each segment is decorated and designed to reflect the life and experiences heard on the recordings by each of the people involved. The portable globe can be plugged in, and contains an audio speaker so that people can hear each of the recordings.

The ‘Hands on History’ project is a unique and innovative way of looking at museum loans, and is one of the first nationally to use art to interpret different elements of community history.