How can our perceptions of people and places change?

Let us help you to imagine what you would hear as you walk along one of the paths that wind down the sloping hillsides.

Does it sound like you imagined?

Who could have used this object?

The miners deposited the fragments of mineral salt that they released from the walls of the galleries with their picks in backpacks like this one. Its design allowed the wearer to empty it and carry it without having to take it off their back. They could carry up to 30 kg of salt.

The weight of the backpacks that you carry every morning on your way to your school weighs, with all the class materials, between 5 and 7 kg.

According to the World Health Organization, to avoid back injuries, the weight that an adult should carry should not exceed 20% of their body weight (and in the case of children, this should be less than 10%).

Considering the above, imagine what carrying this weight could mean for a person and its consequences.

How has disability been treated through history? Is this a story of progress?

The memorial to the Gray Buses includes the quote "Where are you taking us?" (Wohin bringt ihr uns?) and a date 1940/1941.

Now that you have this new piece of information, try to answer the previous questions again:

What story might this monument tell?

Why do you think this to be the case?

Why are the dates on the monument significant?

How can progress for some result in decline for others?

In the late 15th century, European colonizers discovered vast reserves of silver in America, particularly in regions like Mexico, Peru and Bolivia.

Silver became an appreciated and highly sought after material for creating elaborate and ornate objects due to its value and aesthetic.

This growing demand for luxury items further stimulated this prosperous market and led to the different European states at this time seeking to expand their silver mining operations in the Americas.

How do you think the need for silver affects Mexican, Peruvian and Bolivian people?

How do you think the need for silver affects other places in the world?

What is noteworthy about the recording of this voice?

Fred and Will Gaisberg were music engineers. They went to the Vatican to record the voices of well known Italian singers and to record also in the Sistine Chapel Choir. There they recorded the voice of the famous Italian singer Alessandro Moreschi.

Consider the technology of the time: recording and playback devices were very expensive and costly. Now, listen to the recording that they made of Alessandro Moreschi sometime between 1902-1904.

What can you hear?

Does it sound like you imagined?

What can be deduced about Alessandro Moreschi from this recording?

What does this stone tell us about the past?

To better understand the selected artifact, carefully observe the attached photograph.

In this photograph, the site where archaeologists discovered an object similar to the one shown above is depicted. In fact, it was found in the sea off the coast of Egypt.

Now that you have this information, what could this object be, and what might it have been used for?

How can archaeology help us to uncover the stories of the lives of ordinary people in the past?

Archaeologists have carefully analyzed the wreck and found the inscription "C L POSTV" engraved in the wood of the ship. It may be short for "Caius and Lucius Postumius."

Who could these people be?

What can we tell about the lives of people in the past through the objects they leave behind?

From an examination of the objects found in the grave, the evidence suggests that this person was buried here sometime in the late 4th Century CE.

Archaeologists also examined the remains of the other graves found in the cemetery at Eboracum. They discovered that the majority of the people buried here were not buried in coffins or buried accompanied by jewelry or objects.

In light of these findings, what does this information reveal about the person who was buried here? Who might this person have been? Could you describe them?

How have humans tried to control nature?

Compare the image provided to an image of the Mediterranean Sea taken in June 2007. 

What differences and similarities do you see between the two images?

Why do you think these changes may have occurred?

How visible were diseases and pandemics in the past?

A wide range of sources are available to us with regards to investigating people's viewpoints and actions during the COVID 19 Pandemic.

Future historians will have to sift through this data in order to reconstruct and tell the story of this historical event.

Along with academic and official information, historians will also be able to draw upon the recorded personal accounts and experiences of ordinary people who lived through this pandemic.

Was this always the way for historians studying previous pandemics?

How do historians set about reconstructing the history of diseases and pandemics in the past?

What sources are available to them?

Are these sources reliable?

Why do children move across borders without their parents?

This suitcase belonged to one of the many Finnish children who came to Sweden during the Second World War between 1939 and 1945, as a result of the Soviet attack on Finland in 1939 and the fear of Soviet occupation.

With this new information, you can try to answer the previous questions again:

What did this child need a suitcase for?

Why was he travelling?

The map shows Louis Wyrsch's journey from Nidwalden (Switzerland) to Borneo around 1820.

How long do you think the journey took at this time?

How can what is hidden in the invisible help us to reconstruct history?

Bacteria were invisible to the human eye until the invention of the microscope and were impossible to be captured in a shot until the invention of the photomicrographs (1870s).

Both artefacts, microscopes and photomicrographs, were key for the development of science (as well as history and archaeology!).

How important do you think these objects were to expand upon what scientists, historians and archaeologists could achieve?

How does the movement of people lead to change?

The text is written in Hebrew characters, but… listen to the selected excerpt.  Is the sound familiar to you? Which language is this?

How does an object in the attic uncover a hidden story?

The morning of September 13th, 1911, probably started off like just any other school day for Master Homan (pictured in the top hat in the main photo), the principal of St Joseph's Male National School, East Wall, as he set off to work. However, the day was to take a turn for the worse for Master Homan, as on arriving at the school gates, the staff were met with two signs chalked on the door of the school.

What do you think might have been on these signs?

Look at the other objects oin the set to try to work it out.

How did the movements of plants change the world?

In this image you can see a Cinchona pressed specimen preserved in the Botany collection of US National Museum of Natural history.

Huge efforts were made by various governments in the cultivation of this plant. For example, the US sent botanical expeditions, called Cinchona Missions, between 1942 and 1944 to specifically explore areas of South America to locate cinchona species that could be harvested.

«[This expedition] is a day to day affair of slugging it out with the rain and mud and cold», reported the Cinchona Missions Assistant Director, William C. Steere.

Why was there so much focus on using this plant?

How do you imagine people in the past?

Your interaction with art, films, books and festivities also has an influence on how you perceive and imagine ancient societies in the past.

Consider, for example, the artwork created by artist Jean-Léon Gerôme in 1872. It depicts a scene from Ancient Rome. Note the scene, audience, and main characters.

Are the people depicted in this collage similar or different to the one you have imagined and drawn?

What hidden stories are found in the landscape around us?

The street shown in the image is named after Gustav Nachtigal who was born in 1834 in Eichstedt (in the former kingdom of Prussia). He was a military surgeon and explorer of Central and West Africa. He contributed to the establishment of German protectorates in Togo and Cameroon.

What does this figure represent for the history of Germany?

And for the history of Togo and Cameroon?

Have the exploits of women been “photoshopped” out of history?

This is an earlier version of the same image.

How is it the same as the other image? How is it different? 

There is a long history of photographs being altered, airbrushed or photoshopped. Even in the early days of the 20th century,  photographers weren’t content with just snapping what the lens caught, they also wanted to improve it. Editing photos back then meant physically altering the image on the negative or print. Some common methods were: scratching and etching , hand painting or combination printing (where several negatives were blended into one image to create scenes that couldn’t be captured in one shot). 

Can you find some historical examples of photo editing?

What does this mean for historians?

Now back to the image. Why might this image have been altered?

How can ordinary things make invisible histories visible?

Does this image help answer any of the questions above? 

Or does it lead to more questions?

Now read this:

«Travellers are an indigenous ethnic group in Ireland with a nomadic tradition and unique culture and heritage. Colourful handmade paper flowers are a traditional Traveller craft and also a symbol of pride, identity and heritage for Travellers. During nomadic times, Traveller women traditionally made paper flowers by twisting and folding brightly coloured crepe paper to make petals around a wire stem. The flowers were sold door-to-door and at horse fairs as a source of income for Traveller women».

See the link below at the end.

Did these sources help answer any of the questions?

How can invisible elements influence history?

Have you ever considered how a harmless element, such as oxygen, carbon, phosphorus or tin, could play an essential role on the battlefield?

How do you think the use of chemistry might influence the outcome of a historical battle?