Providing Public History: The Launch of the Centre for the Historical Record

The Centre for the Historical Record is a new initiative whose object is to 'promote collaborative research, knowledge exchange and discussion between historians, archivists, curators, heritage providers and the public'.¹ Having spotted a gap in the busy world of networks, seminars and workshops, its founders launched the Centre with a workshop on a topic that is becoming increasingly important for all those who work or operate within the heritage sector, Public History.

The aim of the day was for professionals and academics to work together to discuss how history can be made accessible to a wider public and what help is needed for non-professionals to engage with and even produce history. Most of the speakers were from museums and archives, institutions that over the years have become increasingly familiar with phrases like 'public engagement', 'community outreach' and 'immersive experiences', and were consequently well placed to start this discussion. And that was the other aim of the day, to explore the possible role of the Centre for the Historical Record in working with, encouraging and facilitating us all in providing Public History.

Starting things off and placing the new centre in its locational and institutional context we were welcomed by the Vice Chancellor of Kingston University, Professor Julius Weinberg. Weinberg reminded us about the importance of the historical record and its use in a range of disciplines, as well as its ability to inform and engage the public. The day was then split into three sessions: Museums, Galleries and Public History; Privacy, Public History and Medical Archives; and finally Digitization, Heritage and History.

Professor Ludmilla Jordanova opened the first session, calling for academic historians to develop their knowledge and experience. Emphasizing the themes of collaboration, practice and skills Jordanova suggested that academic historians needed to learn from their colleagues in museums and archives and expand their skill-set and ability to communicate and engage with Public History. Though this could pose possible challenges for academic historians, Jordanova stressed that Public History should be seen as an opportunity for those who consume history to acquire the tools to be critical and apply them to other cases, and also for history teachers to train young historians in the skills and practices used in other mediums, including curating and media production. Jordanova finished with a suggestion for the new Centre, that they could work with the organization 'History and Policy' and thus help lead historians to gain a stronger voice in cultural policy.

After this call for the academic historian to take action, we were ready to hear from current practitioners in Public History, first of all museum professionals. Martha Fleming from the Natural History Museum highlighted the possible challenges for museums like the NHM, which not only has to balance scientific research and archival skills, but also takes a deep time view of history, that is 4.5 billion years of history of which people only take up a small part. However, demonstrating their commitment to Public History, the Natural History Museum has recently opened a new Centre for Arts and Humanities Research to facilitate interdisciplinary research into their vast collection, archive and library.² This Centre has generated at least two active projects. 'Museum Lives' is an oral-history project collecting a cross-section of experience and knowledge from museum employees, while 'Reconstructing Sloane' is an international and interdisciplinary project looking at the intellectual legacy of the Sloane collection held by the NHM and the British Museum. Both projects are designed to unlock information about the museum's holdings and to make that information accessible to a wider public through digitization alongside other possible outputs.

The Science Museum's new and evolving Public History project, Tim Boon told us, will look at new ways of engaging the public with history. Two main streams of this initiative are family history, where they are currently using their collection of trade tools as a gateway to open dialogue with family historians, and the development of electronic music, for...