Management and the British Museum: Competing Rhetorics and Identities

Abstract

The British Museum is not just any museum: it is something more, a ‘venerable institution’ which Londoners, the British, and people from all over the world associate closely with the city of London and with the broader notion of museums themselves. It is one of the most ancient of modern museums — celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2003 — and throughout its long history (Caygill, 1982; Wilson, 1989; Trustees of the British Museum, 1994, 1996) it has been run according to the principles of the museum profession.

British Museum to break with tradition — by going on strike. A former investment banker’s attempt to modernize a venerable institution has made staff revolt. Staff at the British Museum are threatening to strike for the first time in its 246-year history over plans to make up to one-tenth of the workforce redundant. The unprecedented action by workers ranging from leading historians to part-time cleaners is in response to a savage cost-cutting exercise.

(Independent on Sunday, 23 January 2000)