Museum of London launches free online resources
19 June 2011
On 19 July 2011, the Museum of London will launch 16 online pocket histories and a new collection of images for educational use.
The pocket histories explore London’s history through objects from the Museum of London’s collections. Picturebank – an image resource for schools and colleges - supports the pocket histories with images for educational use.
These new resources will replace the Museum’s online factpacks and existing learning image resource.
About the pocket histories
Covering topics as varied as ‘The River Thames in prehistory’ and ‘What was life like for children in Victorian London?’, the pocket histories are aimed at a general audience, as well as more specifically at secondary school students, teachers/tutors and parents. They are ideal for secondary school students carrying out research, for parents helping children with homework and for teachers/tutors preparing their lessons or a visit to the Museum.
Each short history (up to 1000 words) takes five objects or images as the basis for a short exploration of an area of London’s history. Divided into five sections, they can be read as interlinked webpages or printed to read offline in PDF format.
The Museum hopes to add further topics in the coming years.
Read the pocket histories at www.museumoflondon.org.uk/pockethistories.
Picturebank
Picturebank is a collection of images that can be viewed, copied or printed for educational use. All Picturebank images relate to one of the pocket histories topics, and only images that can be viewed, copied and printed for educational use are included. This means teachers/tutors can copy and use any of the images in their own resources as long as they credit them (information on this is provided in the Picturebank).
The Picturebank is ideal for use on an interactive whiteboard or in an ICT suite to prepare for a museum visit or simply to support a lesson about the history of London. The resource’s child focus means families will also find it useful for homework projects or for more informal learning.
Users can enter a search term in the search box or browse by period or by pocket histories topic. Each image comes with a short, simple caption and a set of questions to prompt discussion. Images can be enlarged and captions and discussion questions can be turned on or off to suit requirements. Further information is provided about each object including, where possible, measurements, materials and associated London borough. Users can also find out whether the object is on display and, if it is, where.
Browse Picturebank at www.museumoflondon.org.uk/picturebank.
Collections online
Picturebank was designed with a schools/colleges audience in mind. A more general interest audience may be interested in browsing Collections Online. Collections Online contains all the images included in Picturebank and more.
Find out more at /collectionsonline.
