Creating a reminiscence box

Objects, photographs, letters, advertisements and a wide variety of other objects are frequently used as stimuli for reminiscence activity. They often act as powerful triggers to people's memories, stimulating discussion and recollections as people associate them with a time, place, person or event.

In work on film and reminiscence bfi Education have been collecting materials that have been used in training and in reminiscence sessions with older people. Where do these materials come from?

• Markets
• Car boot sales
• Charity shops
• Bookshops
• Personal donations

Used mainly with groups of people aged sixty and over, the materials have been assembled focusing particularly on different aspects of film and cinema-going since the 1920s. Objects used have included:

• Photographs of film stars
• Cinema lobby cards
• Cinema programmes
• Film star cigarette cards
• Refreshment trays, carried by usherettes
• A commissionnaire's cap
• Cinema Club badges
• Sheet music of film songs
• 'Flit' spray gun, used to freshen up smoke filled cinemas and 'fleapits'

Copies of some of these items are for your use in the classroom in the section of visual material.

As part of the Screen Dreams project, schools are encouraged to create their own film reminiscence boxes, reflecting children's own experiences of films and cinema going in the 21st century: Possibilities could include:

• Any merchandising object associated with a film e.g. lunchboxes, pencils, hats, dolls, toys
• Film posters
• Adverts for previews and regular screenings
• Newspaper film listings
• Specialist film magazines e.g. Sight and Sound, Movie News
• Stars' publicity photographs
• Newspaper/magazine articles about stars and films
• Film reviews
• Autographs
• Soundtrack CDs (often with film pictures on)
• VHS/DVD covers/tapes
• Audio tape of film songs/music
• Film-themed phone cards
• Examples of personal memories
  

Where else could items for a class/school film reminiscence box be found?

• Children may have their own contributions
• Ask family (ask! Don't take!)
• Other members of the school community
• Put a sign up in a local shop
• Advertise in a local paper
• Items collected on a visit to a cinema, e.g. small adverts, film listings, popcorn boxes (empty!)

Boxes could be themed to focus on different aspects of film and cinema-going. Some of the categories used for collecting testimonies provide a good starting point. New ones could be added, such as, Cinema Going Now and Then. This could compare cinema-going today with a period in the past and if possible focus on local changes. A couple of testimonies from Screen Dreams give a good example of this:

"Multiplexes are just functional really, aren't they? They don't have much style, much character, I think, but I'm not sure youngsters today are really interested in that aspect of it anyway. They were all different in our time. There were some real gems and some real pits. But at least they had a bit of character."

"The Filmworks at Greenwich looks like a petrol tank, but inside - fantastic. They've got fourteen screens I think. That's the difference between the layout of the cinema today, compared to the thirties."

So, with some categories remaining the same, where contrasts can be made, and adding possible new themes reflecting 21st century habits, categories could include:

• Food and Drink
• Cinema Buildings
• Jobs in the Cinema
• Who You Went With
• Cinema Now and Then
• Family cinema
• Cinema advertising
• Children's Cinema Clubs
• Home Viewing (reflecting the VHS / DVD trends)

Visit your local library

You may wish to visit your local library to find some old cinema adverts that appeared in the local papers. There may also be books in the reference section on the history of cinemas (or more generally entertainment) in the area.

Using a reminiscence box

Reminiscence boxes are great for schools to build up for themselves. As well as including materials in your reminiscence box as part of your own exhibition, objects, texts and images could be used as a starting point for cross-curricular work, particularly for:

Literacy

Creative writing

Reporting

Writing for different audiences

Writing from different perspectives

History

Historical enquiry

Local history study

Art

Building design

Styles of art, e.g. Art Deco

Poster/advertising design

Music

Using film music and songs

Creating new soundtracks for films

Cross-class activities

Invite other groups to use the reminiscence box in their classroom and share different activities that come from the same stimulus.