Public History, Ancestral Tourism and Economic Growth

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Public History, Ancestral Tourism and Economic
Growth

• Dr Nick Barratt

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What is public history?

• The importance of public history in the 21st
  century
• Connecting academe with public practitioners of
  the past

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The future of public archives

• We live in a digital world the importance of
  digital access to archives for academe and the
  public
• Specialist use of certain collections
• Name / place rich data commercial value
• A new model
• Collaborative partnerships
• Crowd source transcribers
• Cheaper digitisation
• Image pay wall, archives control access
• Archives become places of discovery,
  interpretation, education and expertise

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Ancestral tourism economic growth

• What is ancestral tourism?
• Why is it an important economic sector?
• Ireland Scotland
• Regionalism in England
• Who are ancestral tourists?
• UK regional
• UK national
• International

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Ancestral tourism a model network

• Online network promoting offline activity
• Fusion of public, private HE sector networks
• Promotion of MLA sector resources
• Promotion of culture and heritage sectors
• Promotion of products and services
• Promotion of commercial partnerships
• Events and festivals
• Variety of networks
• Town / city
• County
• Regional
• National

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Ancestral tourism benefits

• Footfall to region increases
• Data capture for production development,
  marketing
• Community archive engagement
• Off season economic boosts
• Academic links to demonstrate Arts Humanities
  economic activity
• Co-ordinated symbiotic strategy for regional HE
  archive sector, linked by public history tourism

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New opportunities education

• Online provision of documentation permits
  engagement with mainstream education
• Making History project Who am I, Where am I
• Community engagement,
• Cross generational learning
• Collaborative opportunities
• Generates support for history at university
• Provides a personal link to the past via archives
• Connects with AT through extra-curricular trips

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Contact

• To find out more about ancestral tourism
  nick.barratt_at_virgin.net
• Visit us online for news, events and networks
• www.ancestraltourism.co.uk
• Its time to come home