{"id":1375,"date":"2019-04-12T15:19:39","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T15:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/?p=1375"},"modified":"2020-02-20T16:27:07","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T16:27:07","slug":"playing-ally-pally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/?p=1375","title":{"rendered":"Playing Ally Pally!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this blog, Mike Esbester, Senior Lecturer in History at Portsmouth, updates us on recent progress on the Railway Work, Life & Death project, including a new project partner, international collaboration, engagement with audiences beyond the academic \u2013 and on taking the project to out to a huge new venue.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexandra Palace is an iconic\nvenue \u2013 and not somewhere I\u2019d envisaged taking a history research project: yet\nat the end of the month, that\u2019s exactly where I\u2019ll be with the Railway Work,\nLife & Death project!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll be exhibiting at the Family Tree Live<\/a> show, a huge family history fair taking place on 26 and 27 April this year. Family historians and genealogists have been a key component of our project from the outset, both in terms of envisaged audience and as co-producers, so reaching large numbers of people via events like this fulfils some of our major objectives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With thousands of people expected\nto attend, this will be an excellent means of spreading the word about what we\ndo, how people can use our resources, and how they can get involved. We\u2019re also\nhoping that we\u2019ll be able to gather some more feedback on the project and how\nwe can make it even more useful to this audience. Most importantly, we\u2019re\nhoping that we\u2019ll be able to make connections with people who have relatives in\nour database, so that we can contribute to their understanding of their\nrelatives\u2019 cases and so that we can learn more about the wider impact that\naccidents had on railway workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image author’s own<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So what will we be doing at the show? On the stand we\u2019ll have our project resources to demonstrate, archive film of railway work to show, reproductions of primary sources to show and work with, as well as our project information sheet<\/a> and infographic<\/a> for people to take away. I\u2019ll be leading a number of small group workshops across both days of the event, giving people a more structured introduction to the project area and some hands-on time with the sources. And we\u2019re taking part in the kids\u2019 detective trail, with some engaging material about railway dogs \u2013 dogs which collected money to support widows and orphans left behind after railway staff were killed at work. So, we should have something for everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve put together a short video with a little bit more detail (though be warned: awkward on-screen appearance from me!):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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