Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries 1000-1700 (MOB): Exhibiting, Handling and Teaching the Past through Everyday Objects.

From 1000-1700 there was an expansion in the number and variety of everyday objects. Quite simply, more people had access to more things. The AHRC funded Research Network, Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries 1000-1700, allowed academics to consider the reasons for these changes. Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries started with surviving everyday objects (shoes, pilgrim badges, chests, keys and tiles), to consider how they were produced, why people owned them, and how they were used. It focused on objects from the extensive, but understudied collections from the Grosvenor Museum in Chester. The network pioneered 'object handling sessions' where academics examined objects. These 'object handling sessions' revealed the constant mobility of objects in the past and challenged top-down narratives and periodisations in History and this work will be published. In addition, the Network constructed a new database for the Grosvenor Museum's extensive collections, which will link the objects to a European database of European collections (Europeana), and produced four public, open access videos on the Grosvenor objects for the Open University Open Arts Objects. Finally, the Network undertook educational outreach where PGCE students from the University of Chester designed lesson plans based on the 'object handling sessions', taking the objects into secondary schools for pupils to explore.

However, during the Network additional needs arose related to impact and engagement. First, there was a need to fully share the insights of the Research Network with a wider public audience. Second there was a need to transform the one-off schools workshops into a sustainable handling experience for primary and secondary schools. The AHRC Follow On Funding for Impact and Engagement, 'Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries 1000-1700: Exhibiting, Handling and Teaching the Past Through Everyday Objects' will be used to achieve these aims.

First, Follow On Funding for Impact and Engagement will fund a public exhibition at the Grosvenor Museum in Chester in 2022. Typically, exhibitions at the museum attract around 6,500 visitors from the UK and overseas. The exhibition will focus on shoes, tiles, pilgrim tokens, chests, and keys. It will be advertised through pop-up handling sessions in shopping centres to reach members of the public who may not usually visit the Museum. By focusing on everyday objects, the exhibition will reveal the way in which objects allowed people in the past to move across thresholds and boundaries, from public to private spaces and across global trade networks. It will challenge traditional historical periodisations, elite narratives of history and perceptions of the medieval and early modern periods as static and unchanging. The historical movement and settings of the objects will be brought to life in a Virtual Reality experience. The exhibition will showcase the Open University films and the creative work produced by school pupils during the Network. Second, Follow on Funding for Impact and Engagement will support the production of school Object Boxes for Key Stages 1-4 and GCSE of the English National Curriculum. The Object Boxes will include selected everyday items from the Grosvenor Museum collection (pottery, shoes, belt buckles, keys, rings, tiles, coins, glass, and pilgrim tokens) from the period 1000-1700 as well as lesson plans, worksheets, and creative writing tools. These Object Boxes will be loaned to schools, reaching pupils who may not otherwise have the chance to experience a museum collection.Third, Follow on Funding for Impact and Engagement will fund the design of a mobile app and an online survey for the evaluation of the exhibition and schools engagement work. Responses will be taken from those at the exhibition, to evaluate how their perceptions of the past have changed. Responses will also be taken from teachers and pupils, to track the impact of the Object Boxes on school teaching and learning.