Living in Heritage: People, Places, Traces
In this session our speakers will offer different perspectives on heritage sites as places of occupation - both past and present - and what this means when caring for and interpreting these sites today.
Unlike many museums which display histories in purpose-built spaces divorced from the lives of the people who made, used or traded the collections they display, heritage sites are inscribed (often literally) with the traces of occupants - past and present - who have lived, worked, studied or visited these places.
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What stories and what objects do we privilege over others?
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What lives do we tell, and how do we do it?
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How do we read an object when it is absent, broken, ephemeral, enigmatic, everyday?
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How does living in and engaging with heritage benefit people today?
Speakers:
- Peter Aiers OBE is CEO of The Charterhouse, an almshouse community living in a unique historic site in the heart of London.
- Dr Rachel Conroy is Senior National Curator at the National Trust, responsible for Decorative Art and the North region.