Is their history known in circles that you can ‘go beyond’ – for example, a local figure who is not well known nationally, a figure, group or community about which little has been written, or a figure/group/ community whose background hasn’t been explored very much?

Existing material might be written mostly from one perspective – could your Hidden History present a different perspective? For example, soldiers’ stories often focus on their military role – but who are they, what did they do before they signed up and after they served in the military? There might be interesting personal sources, such as memoirs, diaries that reveal a different side to their life.

Could you focus on people who were close or affected by their actions? For example, if someone is well known because they were imprisoned for protesting – how did their family and friends support them?

Could you create a ‘feature article’ or multimedia piece instead, which

draws together different perspectives and links from existing materials – for example, about how different figures communities have supported particular causes?

If you’re going to try and find out something about a piece of history that’s hidden, how will you start to find it? The first step is to find out what information may already exist; what ‘sources’ you might use to find out more. These are some of the elements that you might wish to start with:

Online:

Internet

Digitised sources from local collections and archives

Online newspapers

Family history and genealogical tools

Census returns

Offline:

Many of these offline sources will contain digitised content:

Libraries

Local records offices and archives (many have online sources available)

Museums

Built environment, memorial sites (for example)

Public historical events and community history