Bournemouth University Students Revitalize Local History
Final-year History students at Bournemouth University (BU) have been working collectively on several community history projects that will benefit public spaces, museums, and other visitor attractions in the local area.
The Graduate Project is a four-month-long course that supports and trains students to become public historians. Students have been working in groups on a diverse range of local community history projects including:
Bournemouth Community Hebrew Congregation – Students worked as part of the congregation’s Living Stones Heritage Lottery Fund project documenting Jewish families in Bournemouth from the 1920s to the 1960s
St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery – Students developed material that will be included in their September exhibition ‘Voices of Lymington Afloat’
Talbot Village Trust – Students created an exhibition that will open on Talbot Campus later in the month. The exhibition will be based on oral history interviews collected by the Talbot Village Trust volunteer team
Dorchester Tourism – Students made a walking trail for the Dorchester D-Day commemoration programme. The trail includes actors portraying events that happened in the community in the lead-up to D-Day
National Motor Museum – Students produced educational materials for the museums’ Sunbeam exhibition. The Sunbeam was part of the competition to win the land speed record in the early 20th century
Upton House & Country Park – Students created panels and projections to convey the history of the house to be included as part of the park’s Discovery Project
Russell Cotes Art Gallery & Museum – Students put together tours around the theme of Victorian Explorers for the museum. The tours will be used and adapted by the volunteer guides
Swanage Museum and Heritage Centre – Students worked on getting young people involved with the museum. As part of this, students have developed a walking trail, a social media campaign and materials for schools highlighting the history of the community
The projects aim to allow students to present historical materials, artefacts, and data to a defined audience. BU Graduate Project Unit Leader, Dr Kate Terkanian said: “Every year our students exceed our expectations with their projects and this year is no exception. We are very proud of their efforts in working with these important community groups and helping to preserve and communicate the history of the region.”
Students were invited to present their projects at the end of the course in front of their clients in Fusion Building, Talbot Campus on Tuesday 21 May 2024. Final-year BA (Hons) History student, Jack Dutfield, who worked on the Russell Cotes Art Gallery & Museum project, said: “Through connecting a personal context, and stories related to artefacts, we were able to provide resources which may be used to enhance the tour guides understanding of the times and tailor tours to be engaging to visitors. This has been a fantastic, wonderful opportunity to work on.”
Local museums and visitor attractions who signed up to The Graduate Project were asked to provide students with a project brief and to regularly meet with, review and feedback as each project developed. Helen Invaldi, Programmes Officer at Russell Cotes Art Gallery & Museum said, “The students bring enthusiasm and a fresh perspective to our projects. They help us to engage with a younger demographic and support our capacity as a team.”