On 19th November, Senate House Library and the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) hosted History Day 2020. History Day is an annual event that "brings together students, researchers and anyone with an interest in history with collections professionals from galleries, libraries, archives, museums and research organisations"¹. The Young Historians Project was invited to join a panel to discuss our research and journey as an organisation. Panellists were encouraged to present their respective projects embodied in an object, in a show and tell format.
I introduced myself by sharing what led me to YHP. Witnessing the impact of public history in engaging underserved communities sparked my interest in contributing to an organisation that achieved similar outcomes. I then gave a short presentation explaining YHP's activities and our current project on 20th century African women in British medicine. As the session was about local and community history, I reflected on our research through a geographical lens. Recognising that Black British history is too often solely focused on London, YHP makes particular effort to recognise Black communities from the entirety of UK.
I used case studies from our oral history exhibition and shared the main findings from their interviews. A nurse we interviewed called Adwoa shared the significance of uniforms in nursing history and discussed how they changed over the years. I chose her photograph as my show-and-tell object because it symbolised the longstanding presence and importance of African women in British healthcare. This resonated with some participants in the talk who had also worked in the NHS. I highlighted the look of pride on her face when wearing her one of her older uniforms from the '90s. To me, that image represents our project and the motivation behind sharing each woman's story. I stressed that Black British history, particularly the history of African women, is often neglected, how important it is to promote it, and make it accessible.
Other panellists presented many unique show–and–tell objects. The session ended with questions from the attendees. A question put towards me was how to encourage young people to engage with history and do more volunteering. Drawing from my own thought process when joining YHP, I answered that it is important for organisation to engage with topical and impactful issues that relate to young people. Moreover, making people feel that they are making a difference is unparalleled in drawing people towards volunteering for a cause.
This event was the first time I had represented YHP. It was a great experience to hear panellists and attendees alike praising our work. Talking to all of the attendees made me realise how much my skills in research, editing and public speaking have grown since taking an active part in YHP.
School of Advanced Study, University of London (2023) History Day 2023 - History Collections, History Collections. School of Advanced Study, University of London. Available at: https://historycollections.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2023/12/01/history-day-2023-2/
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