The Living History Concept in Gamla Linköping

In Gamla Linköping, we have a long tradition of working with living history on various levels; including artisans in workshops, associations, museum interpretation staff, volunteers to dramatized walks and theatre performances that vividly portray our history and bring our intangible cultural heritage to life.

We work in slightly different ways in our various museum environments. In Gamla Linköping we have the great advantage of having two authentic homes, Solliden and Villa Lugnet. Using letters, diaries, objects and clothes, we can get close to the families and interpret life at the turn of the century, around 1900, through their personal stories. In both these buildings we are limited in any interactive engagement with visitors, with staff demonstrating chores, etc. instead. However our interpretation staff are able to talk to people, and since Solliden (1930s) is relatively recent, our visitors can also share their own experiences.

At the same time, we have built several other settings using handling collections, where the focus is entirely on visitors' participation. Here we can demonstrate different crafts such as ropemaking, weaving, working with wool, blacksmithing, baking etc. We aim to keep participation simple to enable a greater level of interaction.

In the recruitment of seasonal staff, we look for different types of knowledge and, as far as possible, we adapt the operations to the skills that they bring into the organization. This is a fairly time-consuming way of working, meaning the content of the business changes over time. However, the benefits are worth the effort, as it enable us to vary the visitor experience and add new knowledge and perspectives to our existing experience.

We also work with a third group - our actors, who are permanently in role according to their different characters. They offer planned performances while mixing improvisation in their daily repertoire. The scenes are developed by our museum staff together with a screenwriter and director. We build scenes to highlight specific stories or events which target both adults and children.

In Gamla Linköping, we thus combine our storytelling by using guides in third person interpretation together with actors, who work with first person interpretation. There are several reasons why we find using these two combined methods is so successful. Not all of our visitors appreciate the dramatized form and hesitate to interact with our actors. Instead, they prefer a conversation or situation where they can get answers to all the questions they might have. Our way of working is also permeated by the motto of the "right person in the right place". We may have colleagues who have great knowledge of a craft or history or language, but who lack the ability to act. In this way, we allow everyone to shine.