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By John Coster, Director, Independent Heritage Network

Imagine you’ve just experienced a bereavement. A box of personal belongings – school reports, passports, old photographs, perhaps mementos from a life once lived abroad due to war or economic necessity – has found its way to you. These items, quietly stored away for years, suddenly feel important. They might raise questions. They might offer clues. They might carry weight. But what do you do with them? Who do you turn to if you want to understand more, or contribute what you’ve found to a wider story?

All too often, mainstream heritage organisations see these materials as little more than ‘house clearance’. That phrase alone reveals a lot – a view that unless an object fits within the accepted, curated frameworks of what is already known or deemed significant, it lacks value. This is the quiet prejudice at work within parts of the heritage sector. It’s a form of cultural snobbery that continues to overlook the richness of lived experience, especially that of migrant families, working-class communities, and those whose stories have never been central to the national narrative.

This needs to change.

At the Independent Heritage Network, we’re asking: who is our social history for, if not the people who lived it? If birth certificates from the 1930s, passports stamped with places and times of conflict, and school photos from another country aren’t heritage, then what is?

We believe personal archives matter. They are raw, intimate evidence of the lives people have led – of their journeys, struggles, celebrations, and identities. And when brought together, they can reshape what we think we know about the past.

This is the spirit behind our Saturday Heritage Fair – an open, inclusive event where individuals can bring their personal items, ask questions, share stories, and find out what’s possible. It’s not about turning everything into an exhibit behind glass. It’s about making connections, supporting people to make sense of what they have, and thinking differently about how we value everyday history.

So when institutions fail to see the worth in these personal traces, we step in. Because every box of belongings is a small archive in itself – full of meaning, full of memory, and deserving of care.

The next Saturday Heritage Fair takes place on 11th October at the Leicester Adult Education Centre. Open 10am-3pm to everyone with an interest in heritage….and FREE!