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    Museums and the formation of national and cultural identities

    Coombes, Annie E. (2004) Museums and the formation of national and cultural identities. In: Preziosi, D. and Farago, C. (eds.) Grasping the World: The Idea of the Museum. Ashgate. ISBN 9780367024345.

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    Abstract

    This chapter focuses on what might be interpreted as the moment of a more self-consciously political conception of the roles available to museums in general. It explores a case study situated at a comparable historical conjuncture in 1902, when the Education Act of that year announced the same objective of ‘Education for AH’. The chapter is concerned with the problem of attracting a larger and more diverse public, proving the museums’ capacity as a serious educational resource and, in the case of the ethnographic collections, as a serious ‘scientific’ resource. 1902 was a significant year in other respects since it marked the renewal of concerted strategies by both contending parliamentary parties to promote the concept of a homogeneous national identity and unity within Britain. The general consensus delegated the former as the responsibility of the national collections and the latter as that of the local museums.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Book Section
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies
    Depositing User: Annie Coombes
    Date Deposited: 17 Feb 2021 07:10
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 18:07
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/43051

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