The National Fairground Archive
Website
Digital Archives
The National Fairground Archive (NFA) is located in Sheffield, England. From their about page:
The NFA is run by the University of Sheffield, so all of the copyrights and media information is filtered directly though the University. While a social media mission statement is not stated on their website, they maintain several social media platforms with which they make themselves available to the public.The core of the NFA collection embodies the history of popular entertainment in the United Kingdom from the nineteenth century onwards. This unique collection of photographic, printed, manuscript and audiovisual material covers every aspect of the travelling fair and allied entertainments as well as the culture, business and life of travelling showpeople. The NFA provides a primary source of research and teaching material to a wealth of popular culture and history from the unique view point of the travelling entertainment industry.The Archive collects material from the early fairground and the allied industries that developed within it including early cinema, circus, freak shows, magic, boxing, variety and amusement parks, during the period these were associated with the fairground.
The platforms the NFA uses most are Facebook and Twitter. They post frequently, at least once or twice a day during the work week. However, many of their posts leave little to be desired. Sometimes they post pictures from their own collections but many times it seems they are just posting to post, either by sharing fair or circus related pictures and content or throwing up a photo from their collection with little to no information. This is rather unfortunate because they have an amazing digital repository where much of their collection is digitized (how many archives can say that??) and accessible to the public.
Copyright is generally one of the things standing in the way of the posting of visual materials from a collection online, but a copyright statement on the digital archives page states that the University of Sheffield Digital Collections owns and maintains the copyright to all of the items in their collection, unless of course there is additional copyright remaining on the items. This blanket statement however, makes it appear to me that most of the original copyright on the items in the collection has since expired, leaving the University to take on the copyright. Because of this, there is no excuse to for underutilizing this great resource.
When either the Facebook or the Twitter posts something from their own collection, they do link it to the digital collection to which the item belongs. However, their posts are not tagged, and therefore not searchable. Due to this, the reach these platforms have is not being utilized. Early photos of fairs and associated acts are of great interest to many people, especially because many are interesting oddities that invoke curiosity. Being more adept with tagging photos and posts would raise awareness of the archives beyond the circle it already reaches.
It is frustrating to go through their twitter feed because a lot is conversation between their account and other accounts, which is GREAT because it means they are interacting with the public, but when it comes to easily digesting a twitter feed, it's not very conducive and can begin to annoy people who really just want to see interesting photos, information, etc. The other posts that populate the account are random retweets that do relate to the content of the collection, but are not otherwise connected other than that they're also photos of fairs.
In my eyes, they really need to take advantage of the wealth of digital materials they have and how well they are catalogued. A lot of time and effort went into to not only creating the collections in the first place but so much effort went into digitizing them. The NFA is proud of this digital archive and the more exposure they can give it the better. Because the topic of their archives has a somewhat limited scope, tagging posts is necessary. They need to connect their materials to things going on in their community, like popular events, media, etc. For example, if there's a type of music festival going on, being able to connect their archive to that event by posting some similar pictures of interesting early fair fashion or crazy sideshows may spark the interest of some of the festival goers. Just a few years ago, popular mini series American Horror Story had a freak show themed season, and while controversial, the show was very popular, and generated a lot of media and interest in early fairs and side show acts. Being able to link the collection to this sort of a show would have been very useful to the NFA.
Sheldon Museum of Art
Website
YouTube Playlist
The Sheldon Museum of Art is a stunning art museum in my hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska. The Sheldon is located on and associated with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Their mission statement reads:
Sheldon Museum of Art preserves, presents, and builds its collections, giving special emphasis to American art through cultural and transnational study. Sheldon invites inquiry and imagination in its educational offerings, contributes to the intellectual life of the University of Nebraska, and serves the needs of a diverse general public.The Sheldon, like the National Fairground Archive, is in an interesting position due to their connection with a University, as this means they have different allegiances beyond their institution. Both may be able to stand on their own through raised funds, endowments and the like, but most likely receive money from the University to keep their doors open.
As far as social media goes, the Sheldon uses four platforms, which are listed on their website: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. They are the most active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They do not have their own YouTube channel, rather a playlist on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's main YouTube. It only has three videos posted.
After reviewing their three main platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) I can see that they are actually fairly active on social media and their posts aren't bad! They post regularly and generally about things that are happening at the museum. For instance, their newest tour endeavor is giving tours in French for "French Week". I'm not sure whether French week is something that's international or if it is just something they decided to do, but its a neat idea, especially because the people giving the tours are French students at the University.
Within this same vein, they advertise their own events quite a bit. However, these events are free to the public and revolve around the collections, providing different ways to experience them. For example, on the first Friday of every month, the downtown area in Lincoln has a First Friday, where galleries and museums are open late for people and generally have fun activities or food. The Sheldon's First Friday event for April is a Poetry Slam in their main hall, where performance based art events are hosted. I enjoy that they recognize that art exists beyond physical objects they have in their collection and can be performance as well. A poetry slam is a good way to connect with the community as well, as the poets are locals.
Other items of note posted on their Facebook are videos related to pieces in their collection, photos of art installation in their outdoor sculpture garden. Their twitter has some of the same posts, but mostly they exist fairly separately from each other. The twitter has a more casual vibe, and is definitely where more of the connection to the University can be seen. The twitter is playful, retweeting "cute" posts from other handles, while also being a place where the Sheldon can make the public aware of themselves and their collections. For example, a recent post links to a statement about recent acquisitions by the museum and details how they are seeking to diversify their collection by showing and obtaining works by all different types of artists.
Instagram, as it is fully visual is used in an entirely different way than the other two platforms. While posts about upcoming events and such dot their posted photos, there's an artfulness applied to them. The Sheldon doesn't just recycle their posts for each of their platforms- they adapt and manipulate them so they make sense for the platform and what users expect to see from each. This is definitely one of the museum's strengths when it comes to their social media presence.
One of the things I noticed the Museum benefiting most from was their generous use of tags in their posts across all social media platforms. They didn't go overboard but stuck to necessary words that would allow their posts to be discovered by a wider audience. By using Lincoln specific tags, they attempt to create a sense of their belonging within the community, which is well done on their part. Making themselves visible to the community, especially given their location, is an important factor in keeping the Sheldon significant.
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