This report from the MLA provides sensible recommendations in response to Gordon Brown's interest in the idea of a Museum of British History.
http://www.mla.gov.uk/news/press/releases/2009/~/media/Files/pdf/2009/MCBH_final_170209
Thankfully, support for a traditional, London-based museum building was limited. Instead they recommend a federated Museum Centre for British History, which would co-ordinate learning, digital and outreach exhibition programmes. They propose a pathfinding project over the next 2 years. Hopefully this will tailor into the digital strategy work that MLA is doing with the Collections Trust, Culture 24 and others, and will build on our (Flow Associates) National Collections Online Feasibility Study and the National Museums Online Learning Project.
Potentially, this could be an extraordinarily unifying initiative. It could be the force that brings together the MLA sector organisations to collaborate and share their resources and expertise. It could also be the major focal point for collaboration across the four 'nations of our nation'.
If one does take a very open and diverse view of 'British History' then it could encapsulate all our cultural heritage in a global context. It could be everything that the MLA sector is about. In which case, why call it the Museum of British History? Why not call it something like Access to UK Cultural Heritage?
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1 comments:
Agree entirely about the dubious name. Is it just me or does the notion of 'The Museum of British History' have a whiff of cultural protectionism about it: 'British Museums for British People'? And, in these capricious times, wouldn't it be ill-advised to focus on highly politicized notions of insularity and ideology ('Britishness')? It seems like a retrogressive step into the 'old world order', tacitly supporting the retreat of globalization and the narrow reductionism of the territorially-minded. Surely the global communications revolution repudiates the concept of insular national identity? Wouldn't it then be better advised to move on on from endless debates about national identity and have the confidence to promote an intercultural unity without having to give it a name? "For," (as Gordon Brown said), "let us remember there is a common bond that unites us as human beings across different beliefs, cultures and nationalities."
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