We ran our exciting film project, ‘Holding History’, from Monday 30 July to Friday 3 August 2018, with a group of enthusiastic young people (aged 16-19 years).
Working with professional filmmaker, Nigel Kellaway, students had the opportunity to explore original documents from our collection spanning key events and lesser-known personal stories from the past 1000 years of history. What is The National Archives? How has it changed and developed over the centuries? What are the challenges, threats and importance of an archive in today’s world?
From the Domesday Book to the Dark Archive, students had the chance to engage with our collection and create a stop-motion film of your interpretations.
View the finished film:
The project also led to the creation of an online lesson resource.
Taking part in this project enabled students to:
- Research the history using original documents, with support from our Education team and record experts
- Work creatively with like-minded young people
- Learn film-making skills from a professional from the industry
- Find out more about The National Archives and the documents we hold, on themes as diverse as the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Great Fire of London and Second World War spies
- Take part in a unique project that communicates some of the stories from our documents
Applicants who took part gave this feedback on the experience:
‘I think learning about preservation and discovering history for ourselves is really fulfilling.’ – Hayerin
‘I think it’s really important to give young people a chance to understand the archives and what they do.’ – Jenny
Go to the online lesson resource