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The Development of Labor History in UK Museums and the People's History Museum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2009

Chris Burgess
Chris Burgess
Affiliation:
People's History Museum, United Kingdom
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Extract

Labor history in UK museums is constantly in a state of change. A hundred-year-old tradition of displaying and interpreting the history of the common people has seen a shift from the folk life museum to a much more all-encompassing model. The academic trend for and acceptance of working-class history began this process, and museums followed, albeit at a much slower pace. Young curators actively involved in the History Workshop, Oral History, and Women's History movements brought their new philosophies into the museum sphere. This internally driven change in museums has been matched with demand for change from above. Museums have been given a central role in the current Labour government's wide-ranging strategies to promote an understanding of diversity, citizenship, cultural identity, and lifelong learning as part of a broader social inclusion policy. The zenith of this plan would be a museum devoted to British national history, though whether this will take place is yet to be seen. The transformation of the People's History Museum makes an interesting case study. The museum, originally an institution on the fringes of academic labor history and actively outside the museum community, is now at the forefront of labor history display, interpretation, textile conservation, and working-class historical research.

Type
Reports from the Field
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , Fall 2009 , pp. 26 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 2009

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References

NOTES

1. Exhibition leaflet, Live Again: The struggles of six generations of workers along The road to ’37 (London 1937).

2. N. Mansfield, Labour History in UK Museums, 1 (in author's possession).

3. Exhibition leaflet, Live Again, The struggles of six generations of workers along The Road to ’37 (1937).

4. G.D.H. Cole published a biography of Robert Owen in 1925 and even earlier than this the ex-Chartist George Jacob Holyoake had published The History of Co-operation in England in 1877 and The History of the Rochdale Pioneers in 1907.

5. Mansfield, N., “The George Edwards Celebration,” Papers from the Labour History and Museums joint seminar, ed. Bott, Val and Mansfield, Nick (Manchester, 1987): 16–18Google Scholar.

6. N. Mansfield, R. Stevens, K. Thompson, S. Gore, and I. Murray, National Banner Survey: The Report (1999).

7. Pickering, P.A., “Conserving the People's History: Lessons from Manchester and Salford,” Humanities Research 8 (2001)Google Scholar.

8. Bird, S., “The Tools of the Trade: Archives and Labour History,” North West Labour History 15 (1990/91): 26–30Google Scholar.

9. Trustram, M., “Which History? Whose Story?” North West Labour History 15 (1990/91): 16–25Google Scholar.

10. DCMS publication, Renaissance in the Regions: A new vision for England's museums (Department for Culture Media and Sport, London 2001), 43–47Google Scholar.

11. Billings, S., “Two Become One,” Museums Journal, 108/3 (2008): 30–34Google Scholar.

12. Promotion leaflet, Revealing Histories, Remembering Slavery (2007), 3–6Google Scholar.

13. Gordon Brown, “Why I Support British History Museum, Daily Telegraph, December 13, 2007.

14. T Hunt, “A Museum of Back-slapping will Belittle our Island Story,” The Guardian, January 15, 2008.

15. Ibid.