Over the years I have referenced this archive in SO many contexts, including last week with my BA illustration first year students who are making posters exploring the theme of ‘space’. My core message when sharing this resource is DOCUMENTATION = PERMANENCE. We have to document our thoughts, our news, the space we take up, our cares, our wants and desires, because that's the only way we can ensure our existence is permanent. Document everything & create a living archive 📌

At the end, I have posed some prompts to help you process these artefacts and kick-start your observation, and of course, also shared the link for full access to the online archive.

There is so much to learn from artefacts and objects like these posters and newspapers: about the geographies of the UK at the time, about the people writing in these publications, about design practices, journalism and community mobilisation…the list goes on. Object-based learning is a method that would work so well with these ‘objects’. If you are an educator/facilitator, or are thinking about the kind of spaces you want hold next year, I have added some object-based learning resources below, in case it sparks any ideas.