Nationwide Scanning Socials

We hosted a series of Scanning Socials across the UK - informal drop-in events where members of the public could bring personal items to be digitised and shared with the Museum for the project. These sessions created a space for people to contribute directly to the archive.

Tables were set up with scanning equipment, an object photography studio, and archive suggestion cards. Staff and volunteers were on hand to support participants, record metadata, and open up conversations about the meaning behind each contribution. The result was a powerful cross-section of everyday heritage: gig tickets, rave flyers, school photos, fashion items, letters, badges, club wristbands and more, including some members of the public dropping off entire suitcases of material!

We chose venues that reflected the breadth of youth experience from heritage festivals to gig venues and public markets. Through this, we reached a broad audience, including those with no previous engagement with museums. The informal, social atmosphere allowed for relaxed contributions, and many people chose to stay and speak at length about their objects, building relationships with the team and each other.

Lucy Robinson’s evaluation highlights the Scanning Socials as a successful model of participatory archiving. They lowered the barriers to entry and positioned the Museum as a receptive space.Scanning socials were first adopted as part of a previous National Heritage Lottery project many years ago, and are now  a key part of our outreach arsenal. 

Events took place throughout 2024 in a range of cultural settings, including the 100 Club in London, Classic Car Boot Sale at King’s Cross, Somers Town Festival in Camden, We Invented the Weekend in Salford, We Out Here Festival in Dorset, and a Camden Open Day in December. These were supported by our Fred Perry Scanning Tour, which brought mobile archive stations to Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Brighton, Liverpool and Camden.