History where you least expect it- a smelly passage (not that you dirty person!)

Please excuse my delay for again not posting sooner, deadlines have meant that my time is limited to library, coffee drinking and stressing out.

'Steelyard Passage- trust me it smelt, there was a poo on the floor.'

As a public historian, I strive to entice people in exploring history in as many forms as possible. Many forms of public history can be easily identified as attempts to make people engage with the past. Often when asked by people 'What is public history?' I reply 'Making history accessible using TV, radio, museums, that sort of thing' which usually does the job.  However, as public historians, we are encouraged to think of dynamic ways to present the past in order to keep it up-to-date with modern trends and make it interesting. This explains the trend for historians to be blogging, using their Twitter accounts and creating apps to deal with the demand for interactive ways to capture the public’s imagination. But this should not be limited to looking at and tapping a screen. Whilst in London, I found myself confronted with a form of public history which I have only experienced within historic houses and the London Dungeons and made me refresh my opinions about the best way to reach the public.

I was walking with my friend Helen, chatting away merrily, on our way to a pub for dinner when she took my down a creepy looking passage named Steelyard Passage (right of London bridge, Bank side). As we entered the walkthrough, I suddenly stopped. I could hear sounds of ships going past and the waves lapping against the side of the bank. As we carried on through the passage, new sounds materialised; shouting of men to each other, horse hooves, people talking, footsteps and the constant noise of the ships passing by. Helen did not react as dramatically as I did- she had walked through before and knew what to expect. Although this is not groundbreaking, it made me stop and think. A simple instillation can catch people unawares, make them look around and wonder about how life was in years gone by through engaging their ears. By grabbing people’s attention through listening rather than just visually, you are intriguing people in an unexpected manner. If there had only been a visual plac about the working river in times gone by, many would have walked passed without taking any notice but by making it auditory, you have the element of surprise. You could argue that people will walkthrough without noticing if they are listening to music but what matters is that you can provoke some people into thinking about the history of the city which is a start. To make it more effective, perhaps a plac to explain how this was created, with information about the working river and potentially a website advertised or QR code to scan. By engaging as many of the senses as possible, you can reach a larger demographic of people in a variety of ways, actively making people take notice of the history around them and their own.
Steelyard Passage Plans 2012

  

For a more interactive experience, you can lick a dock workers armpit- mmm authentic...