Towards a National Collection

Towards a National Collection is launching a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram campaign

aiming to engage the UK heritage sector, by encouraging partners to share different
collections and to connect them as one digital collection. This will create and stimulate
public conversations about how collections relate to each other. The social campaign will
be going fully live on 12th May 2020. The initiative is part of the Arts and Humanities
Research Council’s ‘Boundless Creativity’ campaign, created in response to COVID-19. The
aim is to highlight the riches of the UK’s outstanding collections, to explore the stories
and histories that connect them, and to encourage the public to do the same.

Over the next few weeks we are challenging institutions to showcase their interpretation
of the brief by using the tag #CollectionsUnited on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In
future weeks this brief will be guided by a specific theme which will allow you to
demonstrate how collections relate to each other. For the campaign going live we are
asking you to connect objects in your collections with others in any way you like and
adding your own flair. Next week is all about creating intrigue and getting the works out
there to start to uplift our audiences with the stories of these new connections during
lockdown and beyond.

Suggested ideas (not limited to):

• Connecting objects that were collected or created by the same individual or cultural
movement held in different collections.
• Connecting hidden items (i.e. in store, or not on permanent display) that tell a
story/history of a collection/movement/time period/individual.
• Connecting juxtaposed items that share a connection through historical
significance/material/emotion/design.
• Examples of some posts are below.

In the above example we have an
image of a butterfly held in ‘the
book of butterflies’ by Captain
Thomas Brown in the British
Library. Butterflies have always
inspired designers. In the 1950s
Charles Goldsmith created the first
sunglasses and held in the V&A is
an early example, which are
directly inspired by the butterfly.
#collectionsunited @vamuseum
@britishlibrary
Keeping fit has been important for
centuries. @bradfordmuseums
have a collection of photographs
of The White Rose Gym, at Idle.
Eugen Sandow (1867-1925),
pictured, is now known as the
"father of modern bodybuilding".
From the @rcpeheritage,
Edinburgh, we have a picture from
‘Sandow on physical training’ 1874.
#collectionsunited
The work of Naturalist James S.
Jameson is itself an example of two
#collectionsunited. In 1887 Jameson
painted the two birds in the Congo
before capturing them for his
collection. His paintings are now held
in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford,
while the specimens are in the National
History Museum, London. This link
was discovered by researcher Marcus
Rutherford. @Pitt_Rivers
@NHM_London
How to:
1. Look at what similar organisations have been posting under the hashtag
#CollectionsUnited across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for ideas of a theme you
want to run with for your post.
2. Identify a picture, item, or individual by searching your different online collections,
which could relate to the theme of another collection as identified in point 1 (we suggest
you contact the copyright holder or reference them in your post.)
3. Put the images together – either by using a ‘carousel’ post (a group of individual
pictures you can swipe through) or edit them together into one image.
4. Share in the post’s caption/copy a line or two explaining why this combination of items
has been chosen.
5. Tag the institutions and use the hashtag #CollectionsUnited.

Potential Impact:
• Increased awareness about the items in your collection, and the collections of other
institutions.
• Conversations about disparate collections and digitisation raised.
• Demonstration of the potential benefits of developing new ways of searching across
multiple collections.

Happy connecting, we can’t wait to see what you come up with.