You can explore North Devon “Archives 4 All” Your heritage
A new way to record the past and present of your community
Ever wondered what goes on in your local museum, or in your local record office, or what is the National Archive? It’s certainly not just the past, it’s new and innovative, using the latest technology to record the past and present in your community.
In August 2006 a ‘Your Heritage Award’ was granted by the Heritage Lottery Fund to the North Devon Record Office, in partnership with The Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon and the Coast & Countryside Service, to work with five North Devon community groups to develop their local heritage collections under the latest phase of the successful Access 2 Archives (A2A) initiative, run by The National Archives. Our project is called Explore North Devon.
The creation of this new resource will be based on the framework initiated by the North Devon on Disk (NDOD) digital database and website in 2000, which went out to every museum in Northern Devon.
Museums have so much in their collections which can never be displayed. NDOD was created so that museums allow the public to have access to their photographs via computer. Mortehoe Heritage Centre, Bratton Fleming, Hartland, Parracombe and Winkleigh were the groups/areas chosen for this project. The projects range from ‘Shopsand customers of the past,’ to ‘Worship and religion’. Students at Hartland Small School are working on Street photography, and Hartland Primary School has recorded the events during a school term.
So if you live in or have connections with any of the five areas mentioned, here is the opportunity for you to get those photographs out from the albums and give them an airing. Using a digital resource and website, we have created some software, which is easy to use and gives the opportunity for you to tell your story, and share your photographs. Maybe you live in an old house and would like to know more about its history, or you’ve dug up some odd finds in your garden you would like to research. You may have interesting documents or a relative with an album full of photographs. We would also like to see photographs from the 60s and 70s onwards, because these are tomorrow’s archives. . Have you photographs that record a past or recent event, or a story to tell, recalling how it used to be? Then ‘Explore North Devon ‘is for you, and we can help by digitally recording your material.
The Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon can help with dating and caring for any objects, scan photographs, and organise oral history recordings
North Devon Record Office at Barnstaple Library is also available to help with any research.
North Devon is beautiful and has many Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) so the involvement of The Northern Devon Coast & Countryside Service will provide a valuable opportunity for those of you interested in the countryside and wildlife. You might like to take some photographs of the place where you regularly walk the dog, to compare how those places have changed over the years. What wild flowers do you remember seeing in the hedgerow when you were a child? Remember the photographs that you take today are the archive of tomorrow.
So whether you are a Youth Group, a pre-school group, young or old or just an interested individual and live in Bratton Fleming, Hartland, Mortehoe, Winkleigh, or Parracombe, we can help you to take part. . The project will run until March 2008. Please get in touch with Lizzie Potter Co-ordinator, Explore North Devon (Archives 4 All) at The Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon on 01272 346 747
Bideford Library is celebrating a ‘Family/Local History week from the 6th -14th October.
See Diary Page for details.
