On Thursday 28 October 2021, the first ‘Hands On History Day’ took place at Blackhall Community Centre, on the coast of County Durham, during half-term.
It was the first big step in the Street Museum: Blackhall project. It needed to make a splash with the community, recruit our ‘Community Curators’ who would co-curate the big outdoor exhibition, give the local youngsters a taste of university-level history and archaeology…and be fun!
The event managed all of that.
50 Local families attended, with interactive workshops facilitated by Durham University's fantastic Museum Learning and Engagement Team, using real artefacts. The event’s activities represented key areas of the University's collections: ancient Egypt, East Asian, medieval, pre-history.
The Community Centre team very much got into the spirit (especially with the close proximity to Halloween) and wore elaborate costumes and dressed the space to create an exciting environment for the visitors!
Session like Hands on History Day are an essential element of the ‘Street’ model, as we worked with university researcher – Dr Ladan Cockshut – to gather data on the preferences and opinions of the attendees.
Museum Object Handling: Participants put on lab coats, goggles and gloves and got their hands on some ancient objects, which included items from Ancient Egypt, Greek weapons and Tudor and Roman objects!
Egyptian Shabtis: In the main hall participants could learn about shabtees, items which were put in tombs alongside Pharaohs, to be their servants in the afterlife. There was also a chance to make your own clay servant, a very messy activity…but lots of fun!
Weighing of the Heart Ceremony: Visitors wore costumes/masks and took part in a ceremony to weigh the heart of a Pharoah who had died. This ceremony in Ancient Egypt was believed to weigh up all the good and bad deeds in the Pharoah’s life to see if they were worthy of going to the afterlife.
Archaeological Dig: An opportunity for participants to do a bit of hands-on excavation, and dig for objects and discover hidden treasures (and Halloween surprises).
Gory Tudor Curses: A fun game in which players found out how the Tudors cured illnesses and then had a chance to feel and smell what life was like in Tudor times!
3D Scanning/Printing: In the café, Dr Kamal Badreshany from Durham University showed examples of 3D printing and scans of museum objects and Carol from Blackhall Library provided books about history.
The day was concluded by re-grouping in the main hall with a dragon dance, accompanied by drums and gongs!
Using the Ancient Greek method of voting, the Ostracon in which people scratched the name of the person they wanted to be ostracised, attendees were asked to vote for their least favourite theme/activity of the day! This kind of feedback really helps us to plan future events that will be fun and engaging for the community.
