5th August 2013, 10:07 AM
Enjoying the debate so thought I'd throw a few points into the mix (mainly with a Scottish focus):
There is a good amount of data around about people's interest in the past - from membership of organisations (I think the National Trust for Scotland has about 300,000 members), footfall to museums/historic sites etc, volunteering (apparently 13,000 volunteers in the 'historic environment' in Scotland back in 2009) and more. A book just crossed my desk with the blurb on the back about how it provides "evidence of how deeply ordinary people are engaged with the past but at the same time are alienated from the history they have been taught in school and encounter in the media" - it's a study in the USA (title the Presence of the Past: Popular uses of history in American life).
There is also interesting data on the economic contribution of the 'historic environment' (For Scotland see the 2008 HEACS report: http://www.heacs.org.uk/documents.htm) - contributes 2.3 billion to GVA, directly supports 41,000 FTE jobs etc. That figure includes a lot of tourist spend, but doesn't include harder to measure aspects of community or social value.
I think the interest is there, how best to encourage it is more the issue?
There is a good amount of data around about people's interest in the past - from membership of organisations (I think the National Trust for Scotland has about 300,000 members), footfall to museums/historic sites etc, volunteering (apparently 13,000 volunteers in the 'historic environment' in Scotland back in 2009) and more. A book just crossed my desk with the blurb on the back about how it provides "evidence of how deeply ordinary people are engaged with the past but at the same time are alienated from the history they have been taught in school and encounter in the media" - it's a study in the USA (title the Presence of the Past: Popular uses of history in American life).
There is also interesting data on the economic contribution of the 'historic environment' (For Scotland see the 2008 HEACS report: http://www.heacs.org.uk/documents.htm) - contributes 2.3 billion to GVA, directly supports 41,000 FTE jobs etc. That figure includes a lot of tourist spend, but doesn't include harder to measure aspects of community or social value.
I think the interest is there, how best to encourage it is more the issue?