RT Journal Article
T1 Mobilising the Energy in Store
A1 Elizabeth Haines
A1 Anna Woodham
YR 2019
VO 12
IS Autumn 2019
K1 Stored Collections
K1  Science and Technology
K1  Relational Museum
K1  Object Research
K1  Enthusiasts
K1  Ecology of Heritage
AB In this multi-media article we examine the experiences and perspectives of a group of enthusiast experts as they encounter the collections held in store across the Science Museum Group as part of the Energy in Store project. Their voices are reflected here from observations during the project, from initial participant interviews and from filmed interviews conducted towards the end of the project. Enthusiast experts in this context often include former professional engineers, model builders or even inventors, who have detailed knowledge and practical skills that are vital to shedding new light on the collections. This group are stalwarts in volunteer museums and heritage networks across the UK and internationally. However, previous research has indicated that in recent years this audience has not necessarily been seen a priority for museums.
This article views the role of enthusiast experts as object ambassadors that, through their specific research practices, knowledge and understanding, help reinvigorate stored collections and can be seen as essential actors in the ecology of public heritage. We consider what form their object research takes, using a relational framework to consider enthusiast experts’ epistemic practices. From this perspective, the article argues, it becomes clear that the group are an under-utilised resource, who have important contributions to make to the dynamism and sustainability of stored museum collections.
NO https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co46302/rose-engine-lathe
NO This figure excludes archive, library and photographic material.
NO Here the ‘ecology’ of heritage is understood as analogous to how the ecology of culture as described in ‘the complex interdependencies that shape the demand for and production of arts and cultural offerings’ (Markusen et al, 2011:10). See also (Holden, 2015).
NO The project resulted in a video archive, clips from which have been used in this article and can be viewed along with the full project film here: https://figshare.com/projects/Energy_In_Store/55673
NO There are parallels between how we have conceptualised ‘enthusiast experts’ and how Geoghegan (2013) discusses the members of the Telecommunications Heritage Group. Although the independent researchers that formed the EiS working group were associated with a number of different networks, clubs and societies rather than being drawn exclusively from one. They were also all actively involved in their own self-directed research projects which took them to different organisations (including SMG) in order to consult the archives and collections.
NO Of the six ‘enthusiast experts’ participating in EiS, four were men, two were women, all had professional backgrounds. This profile corresponds broadly to what might be considered the ‘origin community’ of the heritage of twentieth-century energy technologies in the UK.
NO Formally known as the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)
NO See especially Geoghegan (2008): Chapter 6
NO Although these forms of aesthetic response should not be considered a cultural universal (Singh, 2017).
NO Interview with Geraldine O’ Farrell (21 October 2017)
NO Whether they do so is a different matter, discussion of which is out of scope of the current article.
NO Interview with Bert Wraith (12 August 2017)
NO Interview with Dave Clark (19 August 2017)
NO Discussion both for the EiS project and more widely, see for example the Museum Computer Group mailing list thread ‘Collections online: the rationale’: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=mcg;cde9c92e.1902
NO It should be noted that they were not necessarily representing those groups during the project.
NO For SMG this request is part of the protocol for researchers wishing to take samples from objects.
NO This has recently been bought to the fore, for example, in discussions around the ‘hollowing out’ (see tweet from @nickmerriman01 on 13 March 2019) of curatorial expertise prompted by the announcement made by Leicester City Council about the Arts and Museum services’ curatorial team being made redundant (Orton, 2019).
PB The Science Museum Group
SN 2054-5770
LA eng
DO 10.15180/191207
UL http://journal.sciencemuseum.org.uk/browse/issue-12/mobilising-the-energy-in-store/
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WT Science Museum Group Journal
OL 30