Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past
‘Walk with a Victorian’ tour of Halifax
Posted on 21 July 2022
Maggie Crisp, MA Public History 2021/22
Working alongside the newly founded CIC Halifax Heritage Tours (HHT), my 10-week placement was one of accomplishment, challenge and opportunity and it was a joy to work with them. A two-(wo)man team, HHT serves its community well and I am yet to encounter such dedicated and enthusiastic citizens of a town that do so without any financial gain. Coming into a team that was very small seemed daunting at first, but once I had email and in-person meetings with the two members of HHT, it felt more like chatting with family than for work.
I am a Masters student and therefore, they trusted me as a ‘window’ into history and as someone with advanced means of knowledge about making history accessible. I went on a journey throughout this placement and first, had to humble myself. At the ripe old age of 23, how could I ever know more than people who had lived in a town for decades and decades? Well, the short answer is that I didn’t!
But this CIC did not care about that. They wanted a similarly enthusiastic person who could use their tools and insight to make something, be it a tour or exhibition platform, to contribute towards the West Yorkshire town’s historical footprint. That I could do.
Their trust and generosity in this way allowed me to gain belief in my researching abilities and specifically, that what I could do with my findings would make a real-life impact. This was my first working encounter with history beyond academia and I found the experience of designing a walking tour fun and thought-provoking. Of course, my role was heavily research-based and with the trips to the Central Library Archives in Halifax, scrolling through the household Almanacks online and contacting several other stakeholders in Halifax’s heritage sector, I found myself developing tools and networking skills I wasn’t sure I knew.
They let me run with my ideas and out came the result: a walking tour of the town given by a first-hand Victorian (dressed in garbe of course).
Below are the finalised stops which I made on a personalised Google Map and could send to the CIC. I had not used such resources before but searching out new avenues led to this and I am glad because it is a tool I can carry forward in my career.
The tour is set to pilot this autumn, both as an experience for visiting adults and schoolchildren from the Halifax area itself.
I am glad that I was given the chance to step out of my comfort zone and let creativity be the driving-force for this project, with history underpinning all of it of course!
If anyone finds themselves in the lovely town of Halifax, my tour will be certainly be a unique historical experience to try.