Top Tips for thinking about your Newham Heritage Month Project
21st September 2021 - Newham Heritage Month participants: Ada Jusic, Newham Poetry Group, Tom Forest, Vicky Price, Hamayun Farooq, Katherine Green & Larissa De Filippo
For Newham Heritage Month 2021 groups and individuals from across Newham were given a masterclass in how to become heritage super sleuths! Here they share their top tips for anyone who’s thinking about setting up their own heritage research.
Share your ideas with other people at the beginning and listen to the advice and help that you are offered – your idea might be even better with others’ input.
Vicky Price
Do the planning carefully beforehand. Making sure you can access the information you need. There could be things out of your control and it can be too late for you to change things.
Tom Forest
Use the resources available to their full advantage, there are fascinating photo archives and other tools such as the Layers of London website.
Ada Jusic
Although it can be tempting to have very broad and extensive research, my tip is to narrow down your topic of research and really concentrate on it. It helps to give your project focus and structure.
Larissa De Filippo
The best tip I can give is to plan everything. It’s very easy to get lost down rabbit holes as personal stories and accounts are almost never ending. But when conducting a project like this, it’s important to focus on the actual question you are answering or the story you are trying to tell. There is a lot of information out there, and sometimes we can get lost in what is vital to the project and what isn’t.
Hamayun Farooq
Find something you’re personally interested in to explore and guaranteed, no matter how niche, you will find others with a similar interest and don’t overlook recent history, it’s all valuable to someone.
Katherine Green
My top tip would be to involve the community in the project. People are curious, creative and unique. Listen to what people want and create together the projects that would benefit them.
Newham Poetry Group
To do a lot of research: in archives or interviewing local people. They may have secret stories or old pictures that you’ll find in the books!
Sylvia Morgado
If you’re ready to get going, check out all of the records on our site to discover some inspiration, and visit Newham Archive and Local Studies to find out more about your chosen topic.
