As we ring in the new year, we're making bold moves to promote our collections, services and activities with a fresh approach to social media and online engagement. This year we’re expanding our presence to platforms, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and Threads while continuing to use our blog, online exhibitions and student features pages to ensure no heritage enthusiast is left in the dark about our incredible resources. Click the links above to go directly to our pages or use the handles below:
Since the official establishment of DMU Special Collections in 2013, X (formerly known as Twitter) was our main platform for social media output and global engagement. Through this platform, we’ve participated in regular hashtags and archive-specific campaigns, such as The National Archives' Explore Your Archive and the Archives and Records Association for UK and Northern Ireland's #Archive30. We’ve also engaged with broader hashtags that resonate with our collections, like #FolkloreThursday and #FashionFriday, and even created our own, such as #ChessTuesday and the newly launched #PhotoThursday.
With more social media platforms to choose from than ever before, we want to make sure that all those interested in heritage are able to enjoy our posts. As such, following many other institutions in the sector, we will now be sharing all our content and hashtags on the above platforms. While our account will remain live, from 07-Feb-2025 we will no longer be posting on X.
Read on to explore some of our most popular posts over the years, both old and new, and of course we politely invite you to give us a follow on any or all of the above!
#ChessTuesday
Our very own hashtag, #ChessTuesday has been really successful over the last 2 years. Launched on the arrival of the English Chess Federation Library in 2021, the collection has generated lots of discussion and enegagement. This is especially the case if I get my facts a bit skewed or miss something the chess community think I should have included - maybe this is the way forward to boost our posts! Only kidding -- as non-specialists we do try to get our facts straight. In all seriousness, we do welcome corrections and discussions!
As readers pointed out, Miles is in fact playing Viktor Korchnoi in this image. The former's playing position was due to doctor's orders as he was suffering with a bad back at the time of the tournament.
#ExploreYourArchive2024
For this year's annual campaign with themed days we ran a series of videos inviting viewers to peep behind-the-scenes. Our most popular video was #mythology where we debunked the myth of the white-gloved archivist.
#FashionFriday
Due to the extensive range of our Fashion Collections, spanning from the 18th to the 21st centuries (fashion courses are among DMU's most prestigious programmes), we've seen great success with our #FashionFriday posts, and we are excited to share these on our new platforms. So far, this year’s most popular post was a stunning 19th-century fashion plate featuring men’s cloaks. One of our favorite collections to showcase in this subject area is the vibrant and colorful work of Fashion Designer Dame Zandra Rhodes.
#FolkloreThursday
A very popular hashtag ran by a small team of experts, we used to love contributing to this weekly folklore fest. Archivist Dr. Natalie Hayton with a background in folklore research, used to enjoy sharing theories and images from our Art Design and Architecture Collections. However, this is a fairly small collection and so we have since halted contributions to avoid being repetitive. But you can still read about some of these items in our online exhibitions, Exploring Myth and Folklore in the Archives and Heroes and Heroines in the Archive, written by former volunteer, Emma Brine.
From The Work of Walter Crane, 1898.
Fonds
As well as showcasing the collections as a means of raising awareness of their existence and how they can be accessed, we also use or social media posts to highlight our activities and the ways that staff, students and researchers engage with archives. One hugely successful example occurred last spring when DMU Special Collections partnered with MA Creative Writing students to co-create an anthology of creative work inspired by the materials in the archive. The idea came about during a teaching session with Special Collections Manager, Katharine Short and Dr. Joanne Dixon, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, where students wrote flash fiction pieces based on items from the collection.
You can read more about this project in our Annual Report, 2023-2024. We are also developing a Student Feature for this project where the book will be available to read under the Creative Responses to the Archive section.
#PhotoThursday
A new hashtag, #PhotoThursday was launched only this year and is a collaborative social media project between us and DMU's Photographic History Research Centre (PHRC). On the third Thursday of every month we host the PHRC Blog Takeover—a day when academics and students from the Centre share their expertise and insights on our remarkable photographic history collections. The blog and promotional video are then shared across our platforms.
So, whether you're new to social media or a disillusioned scroller, you can alsways rely on regular posts on all our platforms for a digital peep into the collections!
0 Comments.