Calling All Creatives! **** STILL TIME TO GET INVOLVED ****** Devon’s multicultural heritage project Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots is calling all creatives for its two latest initiatives. With the help of a team of enthusiastic volunteers led by project...
Celebrating Cultural Diversity and Taking Over the Airwaves – read this month’s blog from Jess Huffman
Celebrating Cultural Diversity It was great to discover that May now has a whole day dedicated to celebrating cultural diversity, and to honour it we have been working with Honiton Library to create a display of inspiring books that tell the story of England's...
Storytelling matters, and people matter too. By emphasising the role of the person, says Abi Obene, the stories will follow – in time, at a slower pace, but all the more free because of it.
The Next Stage… It’s been several weeks of digging into the local history of everything from shipwrecks to gravesites, shopkeepers to witches, hovels to hotels, steadily uncovering an increasing number of interesting and interweaving accounts. Our forays into...
Tellers of Stories – Jess Huffman considers why storytelling is such a fundamental part of being human
Why Tell stories? As Jean Paul Sartre the 20th Century French Philosopher put it, 'All human beings are tellers of stories. We tell stories to survive; to make sense of the terrifying confusion that is our existence.’ Storytelling is a fundamental part of being human....
Archival Experiences – our volunteers go behind the scenes at the Devon Heritage Centre
As the wheels of recruitment turn and ‘Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots’ – Devon’s multicultural history project – really begins to gain steam, some fantastic opportunities have started to unfold. Read the latest blog from Abi Obene - Project Coordinator in...
Happy New Year and there’s a buzz in the air as our volunteers explore new story leads
Happy New Year! Six months in… look what we've achieved! Now six months into the project we start 2024 having established a strong and experienced team of project partners, leaders, advisors, coordinators and volunteers from across Devon. We’ve had some great press...
We’re off! Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots launches in Honiton and Ilfracombe
By Abi Obene, Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots Coordinator, Ilfracombe In the last couple of weeks both Ilfracombe and Honiton have had their launch events for the Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots project run by education charity Devon Development...
Ilfracombe – hunting for clues, uncovering stories and falling down a rabbit hole (or three)…
Down the Rabbit Hole Events are being organised, volunteers are signing up and the wheels are starting to turn! Not only are we setting up the logistical side of the project for the year to come - organising launch events, setting up archival and interview training...
Honiton – a place of rest and refuge over the centuries
What Multicultural History? by Jess Huffman, Project Coordinator (Honiton), Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots I really enjoy talking to people about the Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots Project. Discussing project opportunities to explore diverse and...
Getting Started – a new chapter of Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots kicks off in Honiton and Ilfracombe
Diving in and hitting the ground running has been the theme of the past few weeks, as the Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots project has kicked off in both Honiton and Ilfracombe, focusing on uncovering and rediscovering hidden multicultural accounts within each...
Fordland Sketches
A collection of sketches from the Devon Record Office, made by J Harris in 1823 and 1824 (ref no Z19/2/4) Number 8: 'Mr White A Black Beggar' is of special interest to this project - nothing else is known of him. Photographs by Ghee Bowman, with acknowledgements to...
Tucker’s Sketches
From Devon Record Office, a collection of 'Portraits of Devonshire Characters' by an artist called Tucker. Dated 1870-1873. Number 3 carries the caption "Miss ______ Daughter of an English Merchant in West Africa sent to England to be educated", with the (probably...