Sikring af forsvarshistorisk kulturarv i Danmark

Abstract

Securing the cultural heritage is one of the primary tasks of a museum of cultural history. However, this aspect of these museums’ work rarely attracts attention nor is it subject to any substantial professional debate, despite it being of critical importance for a museum’s future opportunities for development. Since the 1990s, the cultural heritage work done at the National Museum of Military History in Denmark has moved from an object-oriented positivistic perspec- tive to a research-based, problem-oriented and constructivist perspective, as well as moving to conducting active, research-based collecting. This article surveys this process of change and argues for the necessity of departing from ideas that are cha- racteristic of 19th-century museum ideals. The overall conclusion is that collecting should always be conducted as a response to a carefully considered problem that is based on a relevant research issue. This article accounts for the model chosen by the National Museum of Military History.