Open the Box
Connecting communities through archives
About the project
In 2024 we were awarded a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to start working on a project called Open the Box, which aims to engage a wider range of people with the archives preserved at the Essex Record Office. This development phase has now concluded and we have submitted our application to The Heritage Fund for the funding to enable us to deliver the full project. We expect to find out the result in 2026.
Over the course of the project, we hope to work with communities in specific places - primarily in Tendring - as well as organisations working with groups under-represented in the archive, including younger people, ethnically diverse communities, and LGBTQ+ people.
The project aims to raise awareness of archives, re-interpret collections of relevance to these communities, and start a dialogue to understand how stories can be better captured, preserved and re-told now and in the future.
What did we get up to during the Development Phase?
Community
We consulted widely with community groups, local councils and local people across our action areas in Tendring and the wider county. Discovering the barriers to engagement with archives and how these can be broken down. Many of these groups will be part of the final project, working with us on a range of activities form art, to oral histories, to helping us to re-interpret and develop our collections to reflect and include them.
ERO Pops-up
We took an array of historical records out to local libraries and events with our pop-up kit. Attendees were able to listen to cassette tapes of genuine historical recordings, from radio broadcasts to folk music, and explore our handling collection.
Survey
We have completed a survey to find out how the Essex Record Office can help you to tell your story. That survey has now come to an end, but you can still contact us at openthebox@essex.gov.uk.
Exhibition space
We have worked with designers to develop a concept for a brand-new exhibition space at the Essex Record Office with space for communities across Essex to contribute their stories alongside the story of Essex as a whole. It will explore themes the themes: made in Essex; Our changing landscape; community and culture; and, the fascinating records that have been preserved in the county.
