Christ's College History Society is hosting a public history event - 'Framing the Future of Public History) in the Yusuf Hamied Theatre on Tuesday 9th November, starting at 5:30pm.
From television to podcasts, radio shows to museum exhibitions and Twitter threads to the simple pleasure of reading a book, the ways history has reached the public have never been as diverse as in 2021. We will be presenting an evening with two speakers who have spent many years creating histories for the public in many forms of media and are well-placed to offer some much needed perspective about the past, present and future of public history, as well as discuss some fascinating projects which they’ve been involved with.
Dr Catriona Cooper is a senior fellow in History, Heritage and Media at Royal Holloway University of London. Initially training as an archaeologist, she has engaged in an interdisciplinary career integrating and teaching about digital methods within public history. Amongst other projects, Dr Cooper was involved in recreating the audio environment of the 18th century House of Commons for Parliament’s Vote100 exhibition: Voice and Vote in 2018. She has also helped craft public archaeology events at Elizabeth Castle on the island of Jersey, and was a Creative Economy Engagement Fellow at the Fitzwilliam Museum, helping to apply methods such as 3D printing to the museum’s collection of exhibits.
Taylor Downing is a historian, television producer, writer and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Graduating with a Double First history degree from Christ’s, he decided not to pursue an academic career but instead entered the television industry in the late 1970s, working on history documentaries for many years at Thames and Granada. From the mid-1980s, through his production company Flashback Television, he began directly producing hundreds of history programmes for ITV, the BBC, Channel 4 and the History Channel. He has now turned towards writing popular history books, on subjects that reveal new angles on the First and Second World Wars. Most recently his examination of a pivotal year in the Cold War, 1983: The World at the Brink was a best seller. Taylor has just completed a new book on the Second World War which is to be published in January.