A playful and educational outing through Poperinge
Lessons in ancient writing for teenagers, cooking with recipes from the First World War, Domino Day with archive boxes, geocaches, and escape rooms. With activities like these, the Poperinge-Vleteren Intermunicipal Archive builds bridges between children, young people, and local heritage. As a result, many school groups and holiday camps visit the reading room every year. In Poperinge, children can now also engage with history in a playful way outside the walls of the archive.
Intern Yaicke Maselis (VIVES) collaborated with archivist Tijs Goethals (IGA Poperinge-Vleteren) to design ErfgoedApp interactive walk for families with children in the ErfgoedApp . To bring it closer to their world, Yaicke developed fun puzzles, assignments, and quiz questions. In addition to various games, the creators linked a short educational section to each of the different stops. Those looking for more information will find simple links to, among other things, Westhoek verbeeldt, the regional image bank with beautiful old photos that you will encounter during this walk.
Yaicke and Tijs also contacted illustrator Doreen Logie. Charlotje Keikop, known from the comic strips in the Poperinge city newspaper, quickly proved to be the ideal character to accompany the walk. Families with children can follow her on her journey and help her.
In addition to her existing characters, Doreen created a number of new ones, basing them on well-known women who have colored the history of the city. We learn what Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie did in Poperinge, for example, or how Leontine Permeke flourished as one of the first female photographers in a typically male-dominated world.
For the archive, it was an obvious choice to place women at the center of this walk. Although Countess Maria van der Steen de Jehay and Baroness Valentine Terlinden became the city's first honorary citizens after the First World War, women remained in the background for too long in Poperinge's historiography. In line with the Meer vrouw op straat (More women on the streets) campaign, the creators of went in search of women from recent and not-so-recent history who deserve a place in the streetscape. That search proved easier than expected. The archive visitors were happy to help, and in the end, choices even had to be made from a large group of interesting ladies. For now, they are only visible digitally, but who knows, this walk may lead to the first female street name in Poperinge!
