Abstract
In order to explore the extent to which museums can go beyond expressing and influence people's individual and communal identities, this article reviews episodes from the past 20 years in the history of one group of museums. Glasgow Museums comprise the largest civic museum service in the UK, with international quality collections of art, history and natural history. The city also suffers from some of the worst levels of health, poverty and educational attainment in Britain. Within the context of these contrasts and of the interaction of diverse local, class and religious identities, the museum service has tried to achieve its various objectives: making ‘high culture’ widely accessible, providing a recreational and educational facility for local people, expressing civic pride and promoting cultural tourism. This article explores both the impact of these factors on Glasgow Museums and the attempts by Glasgow Museums to influence the identities of their visitors and to contribute to the creation of a more just society.
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