Technology Museums in the United Kingdom

Abstract

A wide range of museums and related organizations preserve and present Britain's technological heritage. It is not possible here to mention all of them, let alone to give each the attention it might merit. Instead, I will examine in some detail those undertakings that illustrate various approaches to museum provision and operation. The largest museum in Britain concerned with technological material is the National Museum of Science and Industry, consisting of the Science Museum in London and its outstations: the National Museum of Photography, Film, and Television in Bradford and the National Railway Museum in York. The Science Museum was founded in 1857, and because of its long history has been able to amass large collections relating to power technology, transport, communications, and manufacturing, all of which combine to serve as a prime taxonomic record of industrialization in the United Kingdom.' Recent collecting has concentrated on significant post-1960 material. Together with gallery updates and redisplays, new permanent galleries, and Technology Futures exhibits, this is improving the representation of modern science, technology, and medicine throughout the museum. The National Museum of Science and Industry is classified as a museum. Such museums by definition receive the bulk of their funding from central government and hold collections of national and international significance. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, unlike England, have museums of their cultures: the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh, the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, and the Ulster Museum in Belfast. They do not specialize in the areas of science, technology, and medicine on the same scale as the National Museum of Science and Industry but do consider them as part of the whole range of subjects that constitute