24 March 2011
'Family History and the Media’ - Graduates' Council Discovery Lecture 2011
The challenges posed by the media-inspired fascination with family history will be explored during this year’s Graduates’ Council Discovery Lecture at the University of Dundee.
Dr Nick Barratt, well known as the presenter of TV shows such as Who Do You Think You Are?, will examine the unforeseen consequences of this unprecedented interest in genealogy, house and local history, and social history when he appears at the Dalhousie Building on Saturday, 2nd April.
The 'inspirational journey of discovery' presented by such programmes has led thousands of people to start investigating their roots, fuelled by an equivalent explosion of online datasets making it easier to get started.
However, this boom has also placed a massive burden on archivists, researchers and organisations, and Nick will discuss how this must be addressed if the economic, social and cultural potential of personal history is to be realised.
He said, 'These groups and individuals have a very important role to play in preserving the national memory. But they are dealing with an upsurge in interest in personal history at precisely the same time as they are having to cope with funding cuts.
'Quite simply, they are stretched to the limit as it is, and are not getting the support they deserve. A whole range of sectors rely on archives - education, community, families, personal history tourism - and all these different things have enormous potential.
'We can do more with collections and digitisation, but the fact is we are not realising the benefits as we are cutting costs and reducing access when there is more interest and more opportunities. We also have to encourage people to not merely dip their toes into personal history research by doing everything online, but to really immerse themselves in the project and taking part in visits.
'I'll explore the power of the TV show using some real life case studies, but also examine the impact of bottom-up history on the services that local and regional archives are expected to provide in the digital age; and the creation of new online and community archives. Our world is changing, and we have a stake in how our stories are told and presented.'
Nick Barratt obtained a PhD in history from King's College London in 1996, and began work with the National Archives that year. His TV career started whilst working at the BBC as a specialist archive researcher for a number of programmes. He has presented a number of shows on television and radio, authored several books, and continues to research, teach and lecture.
He is best known for appearing on Who Do You Think You Are? where he traced the ancestors of celebrities including Richard Hammond, Victoria Beckham and Catherine Zeta Jones.
His talk, 'Family History and the Media: Challenges facing researchers and archives in the 21st Century' Discovery Lecture takes place at 6 pm on Saturday, 2nd April in the Dalhousie Building at the University of Dundee. The lecture is free and open to members of the public. Overflow theatres may be in use for this lecture.
The Graduates’ Council Discovery Lecture is held in association with Dundee City Council and takes place as part of the Saturday Evening Lecture series.
The event is followed by a civic reception, also being held in the Dalhousie Building. Free tickets are available from www.dundee.ac.uk/tickets or by phoning 01382 385564
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
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