Creating New Pasts in Museums: Planning the Museum of London’s Modern London Galleries

Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed the establishment of many new museums with innovative approaches to interpreting both national and urban histories and with accompanying public programmes that include temporary exhibitions, learning programmes and public events. In addition, existing museums have also embarked on different means of communicating new stories and interpretations of their national, regional or urban histories. As an example, the Museum of London, in addition to its core permanent displays, has mounted a series of major temporary exhibitions that explored London in the 1920s, the creative contribution of London fashion designers, and the personal experiences of recent refugees and their interaction with local communities in London, as well as presenting a series of small ‘platform’ displays dealing with the urban environment, social housing and gay and lesbian London. The Museum has also supported a range of social inclusion programmes such as working with homeless teenagers and long-term prisoners in interpreting objects or creating guided tours for visitors. All of these activities are aimed at both providing new insights into London and Londoner’s ‘hidden’ histories and reaching new audiences who traditionally do not visit museums. The lessons that the museum learns from undertaking these programmes also inform the future planning and direction of the museum. These activities are mirrored in a number of other museums — national and urban — in Britain, Europe, North America and Australasia. Museums, especially those in the process of reinvention and redevelopment, need to learn from and draw on these experiences, both of good practice and the occasional mistake.