In 2012 Portsmouth Museums and Records Office used a grant of £5000 from HAT, in conjunction with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens in the city.
The Dickens Community Archive Project took the form of a plethora of smaller community projects with a variety of outputs – including films, artwork, a book, display panels, knitting and even a board game. Some of these outputs featured in the A Tale of One City exhibition at Portsmouth City Museum alongside some of the treasures from the city archive collection, while others were showcased on the project website and at community events.
HAT funding helped to pay for conservation of items in the archive collection dating from the lifetime of Charles Dickens which were then used for outreach and display, as well as the resources and staff time needed to make the project happen. For many of the project participants this was the first time that they had used archival material or visited an archive helping to bring the city`s collections to a new audience.
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