August’s Heritage Chat was organised in partnership with Paul Hibberd of the LNWR George the Fifth Steam Locomotive Trust and explored replicas as a means of creating ‘living’ heritage, interpretation and understanding. Topics covered included how to define a replica in the context of heritage and how replicas add value to heritage, particularly regarding enhancing understanding of past ways of living and in helping people with different types of disabilities to engage with heritage. Discussions also focussed on what value replicas have in addition to acting as a surrogate for originals, along with how the digital age has changed the role of replicas and more presently, how the use of replicas has and will change in light of the pandemic.
A full summary of the chat can be found here.
