Amateur historians from across Greater Manchester are benefiting from a number of training workshops in preparation for Forgotten Fields: Kindling's food heritage project. A few weeks ago we held an 'ownership & copyright' course. The second workshop (held today: the 14th June 2010) covered oral history techniques and the third will explore how we can collectively evaluate this unique project over the next two years.
Half-a -dozen local historians have been attended the training sessions and we hope to encourage their active participation in Forgotten Fields, whilst we all share experiences and good practice from previous heritage projects.
Ownership, copyright, usage and storage of potential archive material was the subject of the first workshop, run by Manchester's Museum of Science & Industry and is to help ensure that old & new photographs, audio recordings, children's drawings and other historic evidence are made available to as many people as possible, as well as being secured for future generations.
The second workshop with Rosalyn Livshin from the NW Oral History Society introduced oral history techniques, the purpose of which is to encourage the supportive recording of reminiscences e.g. to re-live a memory through open-ended questions rather than a rigid interview. For example, it was suggested that we work through a range of topics rather than a questionnaire format to ensure that the interview remains broadly on-track whilst encouraging an interviewee to go on a visual journey with questions like: 'Describe your typical day' or to 'walk me through your house'.
The third workshop will look at creative ways of getting honest feedback from participants to help improve the project and maximise the positive impact of each activity.
Forgotten Fields is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It focuses on the heritage of food production and availability in Manchester from 1750’s to present day, concentrating on six communities from across Greater Manchester who have expressed a need to explore a particular food heritage.
For more information contact Fiona Dunk on 07848 026 257 or email her at fiona@kindling.org.uk