There is a new project in which Oxfordshire Family History Society is involved, and in which I hope many of you will participate.
It's all connected with a birthday party - Oxford is celebrating its 1,000
year birthday next year, and marking the event with various special events and festivals. For more details, see
http://www.oxfordinspires.org/news-020806.html and
http://www.oxfordshire2007.com/The "strand" in which OFHS is contributing is "Faces of Oxfordshire". See
http://www.oxfordinspires.org/specialevents2007.html#facesofoxfordshireQuoting from the OFHS flier:
The faces of the people of Oxfordshire are what make the county distinctive: our histories and cultures are written in the faces of those who have lived here over the 1000 years of the county's existence. Faces of Oxfordshire will celebrate the people who have lived here through explorations of their faces. As well as capturing and presenting the contemporary Faces of Oxfordshire in innovative ways and recording these for posterity, this project will reveal and celebrate those whose faces are hidden by history and from contemporary society. This is where family historians have a role
to play!
Family Faces is the working title of the part of Faces of Oxfordshire that OFHS is leading.
Why bother? Because it is a great opportunity to celebrate our ancestors and to share their stories as part of the history of the county. It doesn't matter whether they were impoverished labourers, academics, rich industrialists or gentry - in every case there is a face and a story behind it. Seeing the faces helps bring family history alive, in a way that mere text cannot.
Who's involved? Tony Hadland is the co-ordinator. You can contact him by email at oxonfaces[AT]hadland.net
What are we after? We would like a portrait of one or more of your
ancestors. The ancestor must have a strong Oxfordshire connection. The portrait will typically be a photograph but could be a reproduction of a drawing, painting or sculpture. We would also like a context picture, showing where the person lived or worked, ideally with them in the picture. We also need some key written details:
Name of person; Dates (e.g. birth, marriage, death); Place of residence; Occupation; Date and occasion of photograph; Your name and relationship to the person; Any relevant copyright information. We would also like a short narrative about the person and their life - about 100 words.
What will be the end result? An entertaining and informative interactive collection of portraits, contextual pictures and supporting text. There would be a website and the same information could be made available on CD-ROM. The project is likely to both draw on and contribute to the photographic collections at Oxfordshire Studies.
When will this happen? We are ready to receive your contributions. We have already mocked up what the web pages might look like.
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This project started as an idea to collect "faces" - it's now grown such
that each face is linked to its name, and the submitter's contact details (not made public, if they so wish), and the end result will be on the web - probably on the OFHS site - as well as in various exhibitions. This is a way to give the families you're studying some publicity and, as it takes off, maybe to find some links from your families to other "faces".
Don't feel you have to have all the details to be able to send in a
picture - if you only know the likely decade rather than an exact date the picture was taken - fine ! If you haven't a "context picture" - no matter. If you only roughly know the life dates - fine ! You may just be able to refer to a census entry.
Very possibly you've already dug out photos to attach to entries in your family history programs - please choose a few & send them to Tony - this project is open to everyone to contribute - you don't necessarily have to be an OFHS member - but if you do participate, OFHS'll do your picture proud.
So - go photo-foraging !
Wendy
OFHS Committee member
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