Heritage Open Days 2020: Getting bigger, getting smaller!

Every September, Heritage Open Days celebrates our fantastic history, architecture and cultural heritage, giving everyone the chance to explore hidden places, discover fascinating stories and try out new experiences. This year, faced with the challenges of COVID-19, we are celebrating Heritage Open Days online with a special series of features on Culture on Call.

In Getting bigger, getting smaller! Ross Turle, our Curatorial Liaison Manager, looks at how the technology we have used to entertain ourselves and communicate with each other over the last one hundred years or so has changed, developed and become thoroughly incorporated into our lives.

The social history collection cared for by Hampshire Cultural Trust includes a large number of items that show how we have entertained ourselves in our homes and communicated with each other in the past. Many items such as televisions, radios, record players and telephones often started off large in size due to technological restrictions and then sometimes, due to fashion, grew even larger; but ultimately, they have become more compact and efficient.

If you have enjoyed Culture on Call and you are able to make a donation, any support you can give will help us keep people connected.