This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.

THESE PAGES ARE NO LONGER BEING UPDATED. THEY ARE HERE AS REFERENCE TO THE A HISTORY OF THE WORLD PROJECT WHICH RAN THROUGHOUT 2010.

A History of the WorldHow Museums can work with A History of the World

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions

Ways that the BBC is working with museums around the UK

1 Upload your objects to the site

Museums across the UK are contributing objects from their collections that tell 'a history of the world'. Over 450 museums have added objects to the site, and we'd like more museums, collections, societies and oganisations to be represented in this growing digital museum. Once you have added objects on behalf of a museum, please contact us us so we can give you museum status on the site and add you to the AHOW map.

See an example of a museum's profile page and objects - Bury Art Gallery
How these were featured on the BBC Local Manchester site.
How objects from your area will feature on the BBC Local site.

There are different kinds of events and activities museums can run.

Run an uploading event (find tips for this at the bottom of the page) and be part of BBC broadcasting content - watch a video from an event at Ipswich museum organised by BBC Suffolk. Find tips on running an event like this below.
See the objects that were added to the site from that day's event.
How objects from your area will feature on the BBC Local site.

Run a Relic Trail - based on the CBBC series Relic: Guardians of the Museum series. These are challenge-based trails about objects in a museum's collection. You can find a list of museums running these events here. Contact us using the link below if you would like to run a trail.

See an example Relic Trail - this one is being run by Doncaster Museum (285KB)

Here's how a Relic Trail went at the Oriental Museum at Durham University. "In the run up to Easter it seemed as if every other parent I spoke to was raving about how great the Relic series was. Children loved Agatha the tour guide, the challenges, the Dark Lord and the idea of being locked in a dark, spooky museum overnight; parents loved the fact that their children were learning so much about fascinating objects without even realising it. When the A History of the World newsletter came out asking museums if they were interested in developing their own Relic trails, there was no question that I wanted the Oriental Museum to be involved." Rachel Grocke

Link up with BBC colleagues and your objects may appear on your BBC Local site. See an example on BBC Wiltshire' site, which used the objects as an example of creative writing.

Sally Nadan from BBC Lancashire ran her programme from Harris Museum � hear the programme on the blog feature.

Email us using the link below if you'd like to be put in touch with your local BBC colleagues.

Get involved with activity involving local schools. As part of BBC School Report, Trinity High School paid a visit to Manchester Museum with their objects, and curators gave them advice and helped with research. See the film here.

Many schools are adding objects to the site - see this Singer Sewing Machine uploaded by the North London Collegiate School.

If you'd like to run an uploading event

If you are running an event, you will find the following information useful ...

* Register on the site in advance using the name of your event eg 'Bristol Museum AHOW Day', and upload all your objects under this registration. Find out how to do this here. See the 'How To Register and Upload' form below for more information and tips.
* On the day, you'll need copies of the 'Information Gathering Form' (see below); clipboards and pens; a white cloth, table and digital camera for capturing photos of the objects; ideally a PC so you can show the public the website.
* You'll also need enough people to staff the event. You'll need to - distribute the forms and help public fill them in, plus someone to take the photos. You can either upload the information and the photos at the event or take the photos and forms back to base and upload them after the event. Print out and distribute the AHOTW Certificate (see below) to those who have brought objects to be added to the site. See the 'How To Register and Upload' form below for tips on adding objects to the site.
* Many radio and TV teams are featuring the stories and their contributors on their programmes, so take the contributor's contact details so they can be contacted after the event. Keep these safe and only share with colleagues who are making programmes about A History of the World.

Here are the documents mentioned in the instructions ...

Instructions on how to register on the site, and how to upload if there are computers available