Both Tony & Graham have made important points. There seem to be two
interlocking issues: The consumption of "Heritage" and the academic standing
of industrial archaeology.
Heritage Consumption
As Paul Courtney has pointed out UK heritage is in danger of disappearing
under Culture/Cultural. We have a Government Department that combines
Culture, Media and Sport for heaven's sake! The result is that the success
of all three (eg Opera, Digital TV and Cricket) is to be judged solely by
the numbers they attract. In the UK the best example of the disaster that
follows this approach is the Millennium Dome which attracted over $1 billion
investment on the basis of ludicrous promises of visitor numbers. Another
symptom of the same problem is the fuss now being made in London where
several major museums have dropped admission charges only to find that this
largely increases the flow of repeat visits (not good!) rather than
attracting new audiences.
The benefits of Heritage are now measured only by their capacity for income
generation, whether that is an increase in tourism or just additional sales
of souvenirs from the book shop. TV producers have got the message and we
find that Industrial Archaeology programmes are "fronted" by
"personalities". The result is that we hear a lot of superficial opinions
and may catch a glimpse of the subject peeping from behind the presenter.
The message is clear, this is an area for hobbyists and amateurs so we might
as well turn it into entertainment.
Academic Standing of Industrial Archaeology
It may be different in other countries, but (unlike proper archaeology)
there is little academic interest in the topic, few if any courses and a
lack of systematic methodology. At a recent meeting of the Mills Research
Group, Bill Bignell raised the issue of whether we are looking at a
single-generation phenomenon. The head of archives at the Science Museum in
London pointed out a few years ago that when an industrial company is
closed, it is only the financial history that tends to be saved, all the
engineering drawings etc are too bulky and hence likely to be lost.
We have relatively few years to turn this all this around.
It was the prospect of losing yet more valuable documents (in our case on
traditional mills and milling) that lead us to set up the Mills Archive
(www.millarchive.com). In our first six months we have been given or
promised 25 separate collections, each of which has historical significance.
We also obtained a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant without making promises about
the number of visitors!
Ron Cookson
The Mills Archive Trust
----- Original Message -----
From: "Graham Collett" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2002 10:29 PM
Subject: Re: IND-ARCH Digest - 9 Nov 2002 to 23 Nov 2002 (#2002-32)
| Other museums have (as you say) "watered down" their industrial exhibits
in
| favour of new "hands on" science exhibits. I am all for catering for and
| encouragng the younger visitor but in some cases this approach has gone
too
| far. For example the new Standedge Tunnel Visitor Centre at Marsden
assumes
| that all visitors have no prior knowledge of canals and only want the
| basics. It is so lacking in historical background on the Marsden area that
| the National Trust have put together their own excellent set of display
| panels in their own building in the former stn goods yard which you can
view
| free of charge!
|
| One of the issues affecting all museums is that whilst grants are/were
| available for capital projects, there is less cash available to provide an
| operating subsidy. Thus some museums have been able to build extensions
and
| new displays but can't afford to staff them! The position has probably
been
| exacerbated by the availabliity of lots of Millennium Fund grants in the
UK
| over the last couple of years.
|
| I also get the impression that industrial musuems are regarded by many in
| the educational sector as old fashioned and not of relevance in a "high
tech
| fast moving" world! The secret seems to be to package IA as "Heritage" -
| things under this banner seem to attract more interest!
|
| Regards
|
| Graham Collett
| York UK (a "heritage" city with a railway museum!)
| ####################
|
| ----- Original Message -----
| From: "Automatic digest processor" <[log in to unmask]>
| To: "Recipients of IND-ARCH digests" <[log in to unmask]>
| Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 12:05 AM
| Subject: IND-ARCH Digest - 9 Nov 2002 to 23 Nov 2002 (#2002-32)
|
|
| > There is one message totalling 38 lines in this issue.
| >
| > Topics of the day:
| >
| > 1. Closure of Industrial Museums
| >
| > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
| >
| > Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2002 17:17:00 -0000
| > From: Tony Woolrich <[log in to unmask]>
| > Subject: Closure of Industrial Museums
| >
| > Hi Everyone,
| >
| > Does anyone have anecdotal evidence for the closure and the
| > dispersal of the collections from Industrial Museums? Also the
| > sending of museum artefacts to the scrap man. I am particularly
| > interested in the UK context, but would be interested to learn about
| > the problem elsewhere.
| >
| > If I can get enought information I would like to write this up for
| > publication somewhere, since its a problem which does not appear to
| > have been disussed in the national press. Industry is a major part of
| > our heritage and if we cannot properly do justice to it in our museums
| > our culture is the poorer for it.
| >
| > Why are industrial museum suffering? Is it that private museums
| > cannot afford to keep going. Is it that curatorial staff lack a
technical
| > background to properly appreciate what they have got?
| >
|
|
|