Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

History Museums

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of State-Sponsored History After 1945

  • 1813 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter focuses on history museums around the world after 1945. In the aftermath of WW2 and during the Cold War, state intervention and control over history museums was massive and pervasive in the Soviet Union and in the Soviet bloc, as well as in China, but also in the United States, where so many important museums appear to be the result of private–public funding. Specific attention has been devoted to the crucial case of divided Germany, where state intervention in the creation of history museums was particularly strong. Post-colonial museums are also treated, in India as well as in Africa, and recent developments in the Gulf States are also considered. After 1989 a new wave of national and often nationalistic history museums has characterized Eastern Europe, but was also clear in Western Europe and elsewhere. In recent years Holocaust museums have paved the way to a new genre: the museums of victimization and suffering, now present all around the world, in Africa as well as in China (Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall). This chapter also gives insights into military museums, usually run by the army, which celebrate the nation in war, and therefore play a crucial role in national master narratives. Finally, it highlights the role of anniversary exhibitions, which usually mobilize considerable public funding and are in many cases at the origin of state-sponsored national history museums.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 299.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 379.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anderson, B. (1983) Imagined Communities (London: Verso).

    Google Scholar 

  • Apor, P. (2014) ‘An Epistemology of the Spectacle? Arcane knowledge, memory and evidence in the Budapest House of Terror’, Rethinking History, 18(3), 328–344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aronsson, P. and Elgenius, G. (eds.) (2011) Building national Museums in Europe 1750–2010. Conference proceedings from EuNaMus, European National Museums. Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen (Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Aronsson, P. and Elgenius, G. (eds.) (2014) National Museums and Nation-Building in Europe 1750–2010. Mobilization and Legitimacy, Continuity and Change (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashley, S. (2011) ‘Negotiating Narratives of Canada. Circuit of Communication Analysis of the Next Stop Freedom Exhibition’, Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d’études canadiennes, 45(2), 182–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Basso Peressut, L., Lanz, F., and Postiglione, G. (2013) European Museums of the 21st century. Setting the Framework III (Milan: Politecnico di Milano).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, T. (1995) The Birth of the Museum. History, Theory, Politics (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, T. (2009) ‘Museum, field, colony. Colonial governmentality and the circulation of reference’, Journal of Cultural Economy, 2(1–2), 99–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benoit, I. (2001) Politique de mémoire. Les musées d’histoire Français et Allemands 1945–1995 (PhD Thesis, Florence: European University Institute).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentz, E. and Raffler, M. (2011) ‘National Museums in Austria’ in P. Aronsson and G. Elgenius, (eds.), Building National Museums in Europe 1750–2010 (Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press), pp. 21–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, S. (2015) The Past as History. National Identity and Historical Consciousness in Modern Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, S. and Lorenz, C. (eds.) (2008) The Contested Nation. Ethnicity, Class, Religion and Gender in National Histories (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertolotti, M. (2012) ‘Fare gli italiani. 150 anni in mostra’, Passato e Presente, 86, 95–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodenstein, F. (2011) ‘National Museums in Belgium’ in P. Aronsson and G. Elgenius, (eds.), Building National Museums in Europe 1750–2010 (Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press), pp. 47–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boswell, D. and Evans, J. (1999) Representing the Nation. A Reader. Histories, Heritage and Museums (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bounia, A. and Stylianou-Lambert, T. (2011) ‘National museums in Cyprus. A story of heritage and conflict’ in P. Aronsson and G. Elgenius, (eds.), Building National Museums in Europe 1750–2010 (Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press), pp. 165–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carson, C. (2008) ‘The End of History Museums. What’s Plan B?’ The Public Historian, 30(4), 9–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassola, V. (2016), ‘The Saudi Arabia National Museum. Unexpected collections and narratives?’ in P. Erskine-Loftus, M. I. Al-Mulla and V. Hightower (eds.) Representing the Nation. Heritage, Museums, National Narratives, and Identity in the Arab Gulf States‬ (London: Routledge), pp. 175–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chu, C. (2014) ‘Political change and the national museum in Taiwan’ in S. Knell et al. (eds.) National museums. New studies from around the world (London: Routledge), pp. 180–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, A. (2012) ‘From Royal to National: The changing face of the National Museum of Scotland’ in D. Poulot, F. Bodenstein and J. M. Lanzarote Guiral (eds.) Great Narratives of the Past Traditions and Revisions in National Museums. Conference proceedings from EuNaMus, European National Museums: Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen, (Linköping University Electronic Press), pp. 169–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cleveland, K. (2012) ‘The Art of Memory. Sao Paulo AfroBrazil Museum’ in A. L. Araujo (ed.) Politics of Memory. Making Slavery Visible in the Public Space (London: Routledge), pp. 197–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crow, J. (2009) ‘Narrating the nation. Chile’s Museo Histórico Nacional’, National Identities, 11(2), 109–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denton, K. A. (2014) Exhibiting the Past. Historical Memory and the Politics of Museums in Postsocialist China (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Durandin, C. (ed.) (2004) Perspectives roumaines. Du postcommunisme à l’intégration européenne (Paris: L’Harmattan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dyson, L., (2005) ‘Reinventing the Nation. British Heritage and the Bicultural Settlement in New Zealand’, in J. Littler and R. Naidoo (eds.) The Politics of Heritage the legacies of ‘race’ (London: Routledge), pp. 115–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engelhardt, I. (2002) A Topography of Memory. Representations of the Holocaust at Dachau and Buchenwald in Comparison with Auschwitz, Yad Vashem and Washington, DC (Brussels: Peter Lang).

    Google Scholar 

  • Erskine-Loftus, P. (ed.) (2013) Reimagining museums. Practice in the Arabian Peninsula (Edinburgh: Museums Etc).

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisler, C. (2015) Verwaltete Erinnerung–symbolische Politik. Die Heimatsammlungen der deutschen Flüchtlinge, Vertriebenen und Aussiedler (München: Oldenburg–de Gruyter).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fawcett, S. K. (2006) ‘Presidential libraries. A view from the center’, The Public Historian, 28(3), 13–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gauge, A. (1997) Les états africains et leurs musées. La mise en scène de la nation (Paris: L’Harmattan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant, S. (2004) ‘The National Policy on Museum Development’, Botswana Notes and Records, 36, 160–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, M. L. (2006) ‘The Historical Narrative and Taiwan Identity: State Sponsored Historical Entreprise in Taiwan in the 1950s and 1960s’, The Chinese Historical Review, 13(1), 78–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hergardt, J. (2012) ‘Narrating a (New) Nation? Temporary exhibitions at the Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm, Sweden between 1990 and 2009’ in D. Poulot, F. Bodenstein and J. M. Lanzarote Guiral (eds.) Great Narratives of the Past. Traditions and Revisions in National Museums (Linköping University Electronic Press), pp. 489–504.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hufbauer, B. (2005) Presidential Temples. How Memorials and Libraries shape Public Memory (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hugues, L. (2014) ‘The Production and Transmission of National History. Some Problems and Challenges’ in A. E. Coombes, L. Hugues and K. Munene Managing Heritage, Making Peace. History, Identity and Memory in contemporary Kenya (London: I. B. Tauris), pp. 185–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeong, H. W. (2016) ‘National Identity and Performativity at Bahrain National Museum’ in P. Erskine-Loftus, M. I. Al-Mulla and V. Hightower (eds.) Representing the Nation: Heritage, Museums, National Narratives, and Identity in the Arab Gulf States (London: Routledge), pp. 162–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Law, K. (2014) ‘The red line over European colonialism. Comparison of the Macao Museum and Hong Kong Museum of History after their return to China’, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 20(5), 534–555.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krugler, J. D. (1991) ‘Behind the Public Presentations. Research and Scholarship at Living History Museums of Early America’, The William and Mary Quarterly: A Magazine of Early American History and Culture, 48(3), 347–386.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laishun, A. (2016) ‘The Chinese Museum. Transformation and Change through Ethics Construction’ in B. L. Murphy (ed.) Museums, Ethics and Cultural Heritage (Abingdon: Routledge), pp. 173–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Longair, S., (2015) Cracks in the Dome. Fractured Histories of Empire in the Zanzibar Museum, 1897–1964 (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lozic, V. (2011) ‘National Museums in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia: A Story of Making ‘Us’’ in Aronsson, P. and Elgenius, G. (eds.) (2011) Building national Museums in Europe 1750–2010. Conference proceedings from EuNaMus, European National Museums. Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen (Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press), pp. 69–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, R. (2011) ‘Representing Wales at the Museum of Welsh Life’ in S. J. Knell et al. (eds.) National Museums. New Studies from Around the World (New York: Routledge), pp. 247–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mawere, M., Chiwaura H. and Panganayi Thondhlana, T. (eds.) (2015) African Museums in the Making. Reflections on the Politics of Material and Public Culture in Zimbabwe (Mankon: Langaa Research and Publishing).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazan, K. (2011) ‘National Museums in Poland’, in Aronsson, P. and Elgenius, G. (eds.) (2011) Building National Museums in Europe 1750–2010. Conference Proceedings from EuNaMus, European National Museums. Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen (Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press), pp. 667–687.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murgescu B. (2010) ‘Romania’ in I. Porciani and L. Raphael (eds.) Atlas of European Historiography. The Making of a Profession 1800–2005 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 98–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olsen, J.-B. (2015) Tailoring Truth. Politicizing the Past and Negotiating Memory in East Germany, 1945–1990 (New York–Oxford: Berghahn).

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, N. (2006) ‘Unravelling History and Cultural Heritage in Botswana’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 32(4), 667–682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parusheva, D. (2010) ‘Bulgaria’ in I. Porciani and L. Raphael (eds.) Atlas of European Historiography. The Making of a Profession 1800–2005 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 95-96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petkova‐Campbell, G. (2009) A place in Europe. Bulgaria and its museums in ‘new’ Europe (Oxford: Archaeopress).

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, K. K. (2006) A Museum for the Nation. Publics and Politics at the National Museum of India (dissertation Graduate School of Minnesota).

    Google Scholar 

  • Porciani, I. (2012a) ‘Nations on Display. History Museums in Europe’ in I. Porciani and J. Tollebeek (eds.) Setting the Standards. Institutions, Networks and Communities of National Histoiography (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 130–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porciani, I. (2012b) History Museums and the Making of Citizens and Communities in P. Aronsson and G. Elgenius, National Museums and Nation-building in Europe, 1750–2010: Mobilization and Legitimacy, Continuity and Change, (Milton Park: Routledge), pp. 119–141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porciani, I. and Raphael, L. (eds.) (2010) Atlas of European Historiography. The Making of a Profession 1800–2005 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Poulot, D., Bodenstein F. and Lanzarote Guiral, J. M. (eds.) (2011) Great Narratives of the Past. Traditions and Revisions in National Museums. Conference Proceedings from EuNaMus, European National Museums: Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen (Linköping University Electronic Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Raychaudhuri, A. (2012) ‘Demanding the impossible. Exploring the Possibilities of a National Partition Museum in India’, Social Semiotics, 22(2), 173–186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roychowdhury, M. (2015) Displaying India’s Heritage. Archaeology and the Museum Movement in Colonial India (New Delhi: Orient Black Swan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Roychowdhury, M. (2009) ‘Locality, Province and the Nation. The Museum Story in India’, Calcutta Historical Journal, 29(1/2), 7–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarzer, M., Deemas, A. and Markopoulos, L. (2013) ‘Social change and the rules of the game. A conversation about museums values in the United Arab Emirates’ in P. Erskine-Loftus (ed.) Reimagining Museums. Practice in the Arabian Peninsula (Edinburgh: Museums Etc), pp. 204–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selenis, V. (2010) ‘Estonia’ in I. Porciani and L. Raphael (eds.) Atlas of European Historiography. The Making of a Profession 1800–2005 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 80–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sodaro, A. (2011) ‘Politics of the past. Remembering the Rwandan genocide at the Kigali Memorial Centre’ in E. Lehrer, C. E. Milton, M. E. Patterson (eds.) Curating difficult knowledge. Violent Pasts in Public Places (London: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 72–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starn, R. (2005) ‘A historian’s brief guide to new museum studies’, The American Historical Review, 110(1), 68–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trinca, M. (2007) ‘The national Museum of Australia’ in H. M. Hinz and R. Beier-de Haan (eds.) Nationalmuseen. Gedächtnis der Nationen. National Museums. The Memory of Nations (Berlin, DMH), pp. 89–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vargas Álvarez, S. (2016) ‘Resemantizing Independence and Reflecting on Citizenry. The Renovation Project of the Museo de la Independencia Casa del Florero’, Anuario de Historia Regional y de las Fronteras, 21(2), 75–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varutti, M. (2014) Museums in China. The Politics of Representation After Mao, (Newcastle: Boydell and Brewer).

    Google Scholar 

  • von Klimó, A. (2007) ‘Helden, Völker, Freiheitskämpfer. Zur Ästhetik stalinistischer Geschichtsschreibung in der Sowjetunion, der Volksrepublik Ungars und der DDR’ Storia della Storiografia, 52, 83–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wieviorka, A. (2003) ‘Le jour où l’on a découvert les camps de la mort. Exposition’ Histoire, 275, 23–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zadora, A. (2010) ‘Belarus’ in I. Porciani and L. Raphael (eds.) Atlas of European Historiography. The Making of a Profession 1800–2005 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 85–87.

    Google Scholar 

Recommended Readings

  • Aronsson, P. and Elgenius, G. (eds.) (2011) Building national Museums in Europe 1750--2010. Conference proceedings from EuNaMus, European National Museums. Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen (Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Basso Peressut, L., Lanz, F., and Postiglione, G. (2013) European Museums of the 21st century. Setting the Framework III (Milan: Politecnico di Milano).

    Google Scholar 

  • Denton, K. A. (2014) Exhibiting the Past. Historical Memory and the Politics of Museums in Postsocialist China (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Poulot, D., Bodenstein F. and Lanzarote Guiral, J. M. (eds.) (2012) Great Narratives of the Past. Traditions and Revisions in National Museums. Conference proceedings from EuNaMus, European National Museums: Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen (Linköping University Electronic Press).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Ilaria Porciani

Authors
  1. Ilaria Porciani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Berber Bevernage

  2. CEGESOMA (Belgian State Archives), Brussels, Belgium

    Nico Wouters

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Porciani, I. (2018). History Museums. In: Bevernage, B., Wouters, N. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of State-Sponsored History After 1945. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95306-6_20

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95306-6_20

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95305-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95306-6

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation