Heritage Grants
Working in partnership with St Fagans National History Museum, the project will collect the testimonies of former residents and staff of six long-stay hospitals in Wales.
The three-year project aims to raise awareness of the hidden and often painful aspects of national history when people with learning disabilities were routinely institutionalised in long-stay hospitals. Testimonies of up to 80 people throughout Wales will form an important record of the impact of care policies on the lives of people from 1913 to 2006.
The testimonies gathered alongside photographs and documents discovered through archival research will be presented in exhibitions. A programme of education and participation events including workshops, talks, lectures and tours will run alongside each exhibition.
Volunteers involved in the project, including those with learning disabilities, will receive oral history, collection and methodology training and will learn new skills in research, exhibition presentation and interpretation.