Hidden Histories - digital approaches to the ‘lost’ stories of Alloa

A photographic and sound based exhibition based on the oral history collection undertaken by pupils at Alloa High School working closely with Give a Dog a Bone charity.

The exhibition is focused on bringing to life, through images and sounds, the experiences of older people who grew up in Alloa and the surrounding areas. It captures their life stories and through them will demonstrate the different ways that Alloa has changed in the last 120 years. The exhibition will show the importance of working with digital to recapture and recreate seemingly ‘lost’ histories of small towns in Scotland as part of it’s larger heritage.

The exhibition is free standing with embedded sound clips for you to move around at your own pace. The pupils will be available to speak to about what they did and how they curated the exhibit. The photographer will also be there to answer any questions about their work and why they were interested in the project.

The exhibition is free of charge and open to all members of the public.  

Who’s leading the event?

The event leader is Dr Francis Stewart, Lecturer of Sociology at the University of Stirling. 

Also involved in the project are:

• Joshua Johnston - a professional photographer from the West of Scotland, with experience in visual representations of oral history.
• Emma McCabe a PhD student at the University of Stirling and responsible for the administrative running of the project.
• Give a Dog a Bone is an animal and loneliness focused charity based in Alloa who work with unhoused dogs and older members of the public in the local area. They worked closely with the project to provide space for interviews, contact and support.
• Alloa High School pupils who undertook training in how to interview, capture and work with oral history. They also undertook training from an exhibition curator at the University of Stirling to create the exhibition on display.

The Alloa Hub, which is hosting the exhibition, is a community centre dedicated to serving the diverse needs of Alloa's local community.

Who should attend the event? 

Everyone is welcome. The event will be of particular interest to local families with multiple generations living in Alloa and surrounding areas of Clackmannanshire. Also for those whose family member was either interviewed or did the interviewing. 

Exhibition schedule

The exhibition will run from Wednesday 23 October 2024 to Friday 25 October 2024 in the Alloa Hub.  You can drop in anytime between 10:00-16:00 on those days.     

This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024.