Storytelling
Celebrating Collaborations with the Heritage Sector
Unlocking stories is at the heart of the TORCH Heritage Programme's mission. Working with partners in the UK and International heritage sector we use new research as the foundation for new stories that engage and inspire.
To celebrate the #TORCHGoesDigital theme for this week, Storytelling, we are showcasing past projects that range from discovering a Shakespeare First Folio on a Scottish Island, through to re-imagining Shakespeare through AI, and the InHabit research network that probed the stories we tell through the objects and design decisions we make in our homes. Our collaborations have also explored the stories of Oxford's architecture in partnership with Purcell, and those legendary stories that have shaped national identity.
We will also take the opportunity to showcase projects funded through the Heritage Seed Fund, where compelling and challenging stories emerge from source material as diverse as dream diaries, stone heads of emperors and sacred Ethiopic and Eritrean texts in the Bodleian. There are compelling stories to be found in Oxford's college collections, and Hidden Objects, a partnership with local curators and gallerists, has a mission to share these stories more widely.
Unearthing and discovering the stories of National Trust places and collections is at the heart of the University of Oxford National Trust Partnership. This week we look back to May 2019 to the People's Landscapes Lecture Series, where our expert speakers explored how writers, artists and musicians have told stories about places. Many more stories of discovery and re-interpretation are featured in Trusted Source, our growing collection of short and easily understood articles about history, culture and the natural environment, developed in partnership with the National Trust. This week we look at how the Renaissance looked back to Greek mythology but also how modern archaeologists discover and interpret our past. We trace our connection to King Arthur and the bards that sang of his achievements. We explore the Bloomsbury group, a circle of artists, writers and intellectuals, including Virginia Woolf, who tested the boundaries of traditional narrative. We also look beyond mainstream history-writing to engage with 'queer’ history and heritage. Lastly, we explore the many stories recounted through architecture: stories of creativity in Humphry Repton’s Red Books; stories of politics and integration in the Jewish country houses; and stories of exploration in the first country house guidebooks.
