Materialising the Cold War
Lead Research Organisation:
National Museums Scotland
Department Name: Science & Technology
Abstract
Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in a climate of international tension, the Cold War is more relevant than ever. And yet a generation now has no experience of it, and its public history is uneven. The Cold War's character as an 'imaginary war' in the global north poses special challenges for public engagement, especially for exhibiting material objects in museums. Synthesising approaches from material culture studies and Cold War history, critical heritage studies and museum practice, our project analyses these challenges and proposes a new framework for a Cold War museology. We focus on the process we call 'materialising the Cold War': the transformation of artefacts from the immaterial context of the Cold War to material objects in museums.
National Museums Scotland and the University of Stirling will apply these multi-disciplinary methods to co-produce a major exhibition and schools programming, and we will generate innovative resources and outputs for museum users, heritage professionals and academics. In addition, our project partners - Royal Air Force Museums, Imperial War Museums, the Norwegian Luftfartmuseum in Bodo, and the Allied Museum in Berlin - will benefit significantly from our findings and collaboration as they each develop major new galleries within the next decade (one motive in their participation); a powerful legacy for the project.
Framed by this international context, Materialising the Cold War will ask of UK museum objects: why have they been collected? How are they displayed? How have people responded to this 'fearsome heritage' - those who remember the Cold War and those who don't, whether family museum visitors, school groups, or dedicated enthusiasts? Throughout, we emphasise the fundamentally unstable and contested nature of the ways in which Cold War objects are made to mean something, and the breadth of the emotional register they stimulate.
Our project will therefore:
- be the first critically to take stock of how different institutions in the UK have addressed the fundamental challenge of materialising the Cold War in the context of a museum;
- build on this original knowledge to develop an analytical framework for materialising the Cold War;
- develop new approaches to collecting and display;
- and thus offer a timely conceptual and practical foundation for a developing field.
Our multi-disciplinary research team will comprise Dr Sam Alberti, museologist and senior manager at National Museums Scotland (PI); University of Stirling Cold War historian Professor Holger Nehring (Co-I); two fixed-term researchers, one based at the University of Stirling and the other at National Museums Scotland; and a fractional administrative post at National Museum Scotland to support them. They will work co-productively with curators and learning officers at National Museums Scotland, heritage scholars at the University of Stirling and an existing AHRC CDP doctoral student supervised by the PI and Co-I. An Advisory Board drawn from the project partners and other experts in the heritage and HEI sector will contribute substantively.
Within the museum collections this team will explore, physical traces of the Cold War manifest not only in the devices of destruction that perpetuated the nuclear stalemate, but also in the material culture of readiness and more subtly in the technologies of everyday life. From bombers to radiation detectors to peace badges, pertinent collections are scattered across the sector. As Cold War witnesses decline, there is now a timely opportunity to harness memories associated with these objects, to collect more, and thereby to enhance a broader understanding of the sheer scale of the conflict. This project will develop the first systematic analysis and assessment of Cold War heritage in museums and apply this original knowledge to museum practice.
National Museums Scotland and the University of Stirling will apply these multi-disciplinary methods to co-produce a major exhibition and schools programming, and we will generate innovative resources and outputs for museum users, heritage professionals and academics. In addition, our project partners - Royal Air Force Museums, Imperial War Museums, the Norwegian Luftfartmuseum in Bodo, and the Allied Museum in Berlin - will benefit significantly from our findings and collaboration as they each develop major new galleries within the next decade (one motive in their participation); a powerful legacy for the project.
Framed by this international context, Materialising the Cold War will ask of UK museum objects: why have they been collected? How are they displayed? How have people responded to this 'fearsome heritage' - those who remember the Cold War and those who don't, whether family museum visitors, school groups, or dedicated enthusiasts? Throughout, we emphasise the fundamentally unstable and contested nature of the ways in which Cold War objects are made to mean something, and the breadth of the emotional register they stimulate.
Our project will therefore:
- be the first critically to take stock of how different institutions in the UK have addressed the fundamental challenge of materialising the Cold War in the context of a museum;
- build on this original knowledge to develop an analytical framework for materialising the Cold War;
- develop new approaches to collecting and display;
- and thus offer a timely conceptual and practical foundation for a developing field.
Our multi-disciplinary research team will comprise Dr Sam Alberti, museologist and senior manager at National Museums Scotland (PI); University of Stirling Cold War historian Professor Holger Nehring (Co-I); two fixed-term researchers, one based at the University of Stirling and the other at National Museums Scotland; and a fractional administrative post at National Museum Scotland to support them. They will work co-productively with curators and learning officers at National Museums Scotland, heritage scholars at the University of Stirling and an existing AHRC CDP doctoral student supervised by the PI and Co-I. An Advisory Board drawn from the project partners and other experts in the heritage and HEI sector will contribute substantively.
Within the museum collections this team will explore, physical traces of the Cold War manifest not only in the devices of destruction that perpetuated the nuclear stalemate, but also in the material culture of readiness and more subtly in the technologies of everyday life. From bombers to radiation detectors to peace badges, pertinent collections are scattered across the sector. As Cold War witnesses decline, there is now a timely opportunity to harness memories associated with these objects, to collect more, and thereby to enhance a broader understanding of the sheer scale of the conflict. This project will develop the first systematic analysis and assessment of Cold War heritage in museums and apply this original knowledge to museum practice.
Planned Impact
The fundamental impact of our project lies in encouraging the co-production of Cold War knowledge between professionals, academics, museum users and other audiences. We seek to enable museum audiences to engage with questions of identity and authenticity, and their own relationship to history through objects. We contend, and our audience research will test, that the experience of Cold War heritage will be different when incorporating the many walks of life that the conflict pervaded. This will change how our users frame their own experience in a world of heightened international tensions that many have characterised as a new Cold War, and contribute to a public history of a period of history of which personal experiences are fading.
We will achieve this impact via four multi-platform routes:
- In our qualitative user evaluation of existing displays at National Museums Scotland, RAF Museums and Imperial War Museums (Work Package 3) we will target mixed family groups to encourage intergenerational dialogue around material culture and engage in knowledge transfer with enthusiast communities, especially around stored collections. We will also involve digitally active online users. Furthermore, by impacting upon other museums' practice, their user communities will also benefit from the findings of the MCW research.
- Taking our lessons learned from this evaluation, we will stage a major multi-disciplinary exhibition on the Cold War at NMS in Year 3 that will engage audiences in a reflective fashion (within WP4). Visitor surveys during the time of the exhibition will not only provide reflective feedback on our own work and previous evaluation, but will also feed into collection development and practice at NMS.
- To raise awareness of the Cold War among school pupils (and their teachers) we will contribute sessions devoted to the Cold War to the National Museums Scotland schools programme for upper primary school and senior secondary pupils, including under-represented groups. The content of these sessions will also be available to schools elsewhere via the learning departments in our partner organisations. (This pathway will also be enabled by WP4.)
- For museum and heritage professionals in the UK and Europe we aim to show how to use a range of collections to engage audiences with the Cold War. In particular we seek to impact upon museum practice by joining up disconnected museum areas, technical, military or social history (WP5). Professional impact in particular will benefit from meaningful two-way skills transfer between the museum and higher education sectors via workshops, a toolkit, and other digital outputs. These skills will include, for example, collections management approaches, ethnographic research methods, and visitor feedback gathering.
We will thereby use material culture to offer new understandings of the Cold War to public, school and professional communities. The legacy of the project will include contributions to major redevelopments at the partner museums and a new permanent display in Scotland at the National Museum of Flight.
We will achieve this impact via four multi-platform routes:
- In our qualitative user evaluation of existing displays at National Museums Scotland, RAF Museums and Imperial War Museums (Work Package 3) we will target mixed family groups to encourage intergenerational dialogue around material culture and engage in knowledge transfer with enthusiast communities, especially around stored collections. We will also involve digitally active online users. Furthermore, by impacting upon other museums' practice, their user communities will also benefit from the findings of the MCW research.
- Taking our lessons learned from this evaluation, we will stage a major multi-disciplinary exhibition on the Cold War at NMS in Year 3 that will engage audiences in a reflective fashion (within WP4). Visitor surveys during the time of the exhibition will not only provide reflective feedback on our own work and previous evaluation, but will also feed into collection development and practice at NMS.
- To raise awareness of the Cold War among school pupils (and their teachers) we will contribute sessions devoted to the Cold War to the National Museums Scotland schools programme for upper primary school and senior secondary pupils, including under-represented groups. The content of these sessions will also be available to schools elsewhere via the learning departments in our partner organisations. (This pathway will also be enabled by WP4.)
- For museum and heritage professionals in the UK and Europe we aim to show how to use a range of collections to engage audiences with the Cold War. In particular we seek to impact upon museum practice by joining up disconnected museum areas, technical, military or social history (WP5). Professional impact in particular will benefit from meaningful two-way skills transfer between the museum and higher education sectors via workshops, a toolkit, and other digital outputs. These skills will include, for example, collections management approaches, ethnographic research methods, and visitor feedback gathering.
We will thereby use material culture to offer new understandings of the Cold War to public, school and professional communities. The legacy of the project will include contributions to major redevelopments at the partner museums and a new permanent display in Scotland at the National Museum of Flight.
Organisations
- National Museums Scotland (Lead Research Organisation)
- Leeds Beckett University (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM (Collaboration)
- OPEN UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) (Collaboration)
- Allied Museum (Collaboration)
- Royal Air Force Museum (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- Imperial War Museums (Project Partner)
- Allied Museum Berlin (Project Partner)
- Norwegian National Aviation Museum (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Sam Alberti (Principal Investigator) | |
| Holger Nehring (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Alberti S
(2021)
The Cold War in European museums - filling the 'empty battlefield'
in International Journal of Heritage Studies
Alberti S
(2024)
Cold War Museology
Alberti Samuel J.M.M.
(2024)
Cold War Scotland
Douthwaite J
(2024)
Cold War Museology
Douthwaite J
(2024)
Covering the 'Scottish position adequately': Planning Civil Defence in Post-war Scotland, 1948-59
in Modern British History
Douthwaite J
(2024)
Cold War Museology
Douthwaite, J
(2024)
The Cold War in Museums: A Toolkit for Professionals and Volunteers
Douthwaite, J.
(2022)
Viewing museum objects through a Cold War lens - eye-opening possibilities
Douthwaite, J.
(2022)
The Many Faces of the Cold War
| Title | Cold War Scotland exhibition |
| Description | Cold War Scotland explores the stories of Scots at the centre of this global conflict. The Cold War was a 40-year nuclear stand-off between the USA and the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Scotland's unique landscape provided a useful base for Allied military preparations and research. The impact of the war still lingers in Scottish politics, culture and memory. Scots played an active role in the global conflict as soldiers within intelligence services and as part of voluntary civil defences. The exhibition will draw on Scotland's rich history of Cold War-era protest and activism. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | Cultural impact - created knowledge of and about the Cold War Change in assumptions and knowledge among the audience (almost 100 000 by January 2025) Economic impact - for creative economy sector involved in designing and building the exhibition |
| URL | https://www.nms.ac.uk/exhibitions/cold-war-scotland |
| Description | COLD WAR COLLECTED We found the material culture of the Cold War was distributed across different kinds of collections, at National Museums Scotland and other museums. In most cases, these artefacts were not collected as Cold War objects per se, but normally in the context of specific collection policies related to the technological or military significance of the artefacts. Often, the material was taken in because it was offered by governmental agencies, such as the Post Office or the Ministry of Defence, with little systematic thought as to why they were collected. Objects that were not related to military technology were often found classified as ephemera or as art, again mostly without reflection on their Cold War connections. Interestingly, smaller, independently- and volunteer-run museums, for example in former government or civil defence installations, were found to be more open towards engaging with the full range of objects relating to the Cold War, from full tracking arrays to toilet rolls. As far as museums are concerned, in terms of curatorial practice, we found such an approach to recreate some form of authenticity through collecting practice only at IWM's HMS Belfast, where the ship itself is both a museum object and a museum. While the Cold War offered a common theme across collections, we also found that the Cold War manifested itself differently across different types of artefacts - different meanings might even adhere to the same type of artefact. The connections were perhaps clearest and most settled with military objects in the narrow sense, such as rockets, missiles, tanks, and nuclear bombers - but even with these, we found that collection practices often prioritise their use or technological function before linking them to the Cold War thematically. They were collected during (or representing) the Cold War historical period, but not as essentially Cold War objects. A similar ambivalence can be observed with regard to artefacts that relate to nuclear power: although the rise of civilian nuclear power and military uses were tightly linked in Cold War Britain, collections tend to separate these two functions neatly. Such ambivalence becomes even more pronounced when it comes to objects without direct military implications, such as computing or telecoms equipment, household items such as razors or lamps or curtains. As well as analysing collecting practices the project also impacted active collection development. Using the Cold War as a key category enabled National Museums Scotland to acquire the blast doors from the East Kilbride Anti-Aircraft Operations Rooms that are now on display in the Cold War Scotland exhibition. It would have been difficult to make a case for acquisition in terms of the doors' significance and value without reference to the Cold War as a key theme - as the door is neither technologically nor in its design or location unique. COLD WAR DISPLAYED We found the narratives relating to Cold War in the UK and Northern Europe were predominantly technophilic, focusing on the aura of large-scale object, especially aircraft. We also discovered that the geographical specificity of the Cold War with regard to the artefacts was only rarely addressed directly and explicitly: in the UK, planes or weapons are represented mainly as the product of British engineering prowess. A good way to overcome the neglect of geography for Cold War display is the civilian section of the Norwegian Aviation Museum in Bodø: here, the objects on display are clearly related to the specifically Norwegian history of flight, in particular with regard to the role of both civilian and military aviation for the social and economic history of Norway, and here especially northern Norway. In our own work, we tried to establish connections between artefacts and geographical location in three ways: first, by illuminating provenance, that is, the ways in which objects had travelled to the museum; second, by highlighting the way in which an object's user experienced different geographical locations often, as in the case with soldiers, on a global scale. Finally, we highlighted how artefacts related to specific locations within Scotland. In the Cold War Scotland exhibition, a map illustrates the ways in which Cold War installations - and in turn - some events came to be connected to the Scottish landscape, for example when protest marches by anti-nuclear weapons campaigners traversed the whole country. Throughout, we sought to highlight the emotions evoked by Cold War experiences and memories. But rather than focusing solely on dramatic emotions such as fear, we highlighted the diversity of emotions that might adhere to any one object. So, while for some a personal dosimeter for measuring radiation symbolises Cold War fears, for others it encapsulated the hopes of the nuclear age and the ability to control and manage the risks associated with the use of nuclear energy. In the context of emotions, we recognised the value of connecting objects with stories, often using interviews or film. Unlike with the museum displays on the world wars, these stories rarely focus on the heroism of service personnel, whether male or, female. Instead, they focus on the ways in which people used the technological objects, often also in the context of everyday routines. Many museums use volunteers for guided tours who have direct experience with using at least some of the objects. This is especially the case for smaller, privately-run museums such as Yorkshire Air Museum, but can also be found on HMS Belfast and RAF Museums. We also found that artefacts on display can be a way of engaging communities with direct memories of the time period with our research findings - and thus obtain significant insights into how individuals come to attribute value and significance to museum displays (see more below on audiences). On the basis of these findings, the exhibition that the project informed, Cold War Scotland, addressed this issue by placing recorded interviews and historical film footage next to the artefacts. We also recorded a series of three educational films on Cold War Scotland that visitors to the exhibition can watch before or after their visit. The films provide a mixture of historical analysis, original film footage and interviews with key protagonists. COLD WAR CONSUMED Cold War displays were the main way in which we assessed how the Cold War was consumed in museum contexts. Our project started when some restrictions relating to the Covid pandemic were still in place, so that our initial concern was the risk that our plans for this key plank for our research would not take place. The reflection on such project-related risks was itself an important research finding early on that helped us address a number of issues that emerged over the course of our project: the consumption of museum objects is dependent on factors that museums are unable to fully control. Just as the it had become clear that the Covid restrictions would be phased out, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 changed the entire political, social and social context in which our research and plans for an exhibition would take place. Early commentary on the war highlighted the ways in which Russia's military campaign was the beginning of a new Cold War. Moreover, questions of freedom, peace, democracy and dictatorship - key parameters of Cold War debates - began to frame domestic political discussions in the UK and beyond. While we had planned the project in the context of the memories of the Cold War, we were now in a situation of a hot war on Europe's border. While we did not change our general approach to our project, we began considering specific resonances our project might have for groups affected directly by the war as well as debate the ways in which Russia's war of aggression itself changed the ways in which our exhibition might be perceived among curators, academics and general audiences. Our focus on highlighting both fear and hope as emotions connections to the Cold War moved beyond concepts such as wars as 'fearsome heritage'. While some feedback suggested that the result was a bland grey that did not evoke any excitement, we found some strong audience reactions during guided tours especially noteworthy: some visitors the exhibition were clearly upset by some of the display related to the development of nuclear energy Cold War Scotland - against the grain of our interpretation of this being an element of hope, they saw, because of their personal experiences, the artefacts as symbolising fears of death or illness. We suggest future museological research on museum audiences and the ways in which they feel emotions and ascribe value might take account of the diversity of reactions even within the same social group or community. We found using the assumptions of perceived homogeneous social groups for the assessment of real and potential audience reactions to be problematic. Building on this more conceptual approach, we also conducted around 100 audience interviews, including at our partner museums. The majority of visitors interviewed were British, with a diverse adult age range, and roughly equal gender balance. The interviews provided us with some fascinating insights on the general awareness of and knowledge about the Cold War among exhibition visitors - and the ways in which direct reminiscences, experiences and memories have framed the perception of our exhibition. A significant proportion of visitors connected their exhibition experience with present day geopolitics, and some made explicit connections with Russia's war against Ukraine. These findings emphasise a more general insight of our project: the way in which history relates to heritage in the museum context and how the past relates to the present is not straightforward and often works in unexpected ways. The thematic approach proposed by our project might be especially appropriate for taking account of this findings, as it enables diverse audiences to approach the topic of the Cold War and experience Cold War displays in a museum as spaces of open-ended rather than confined and restricted discovery and reflection. A specific audience we engaged with systematically was pupils who covered the Cold War as part of their S2 curriculum. The NMS Learning & Engagement team organised a series of sessions with sample objects relating to the Cold War and short lectures and interventions by curatorial experts and members from the project team. Feedback suggests that the use of artefacts to give meaning to the more abstract ideological and geopolitical questions of the Cold War that characterises the treatment of the topic in Scottish schools was especially welcome and enhanced learning experiences as well as curricular planning. The project team also reflected on ways in which the programme for schools on offer by National Museums Scotland and other museums might be enhanced even further by including a fuller engagement with material objects as sources of discovery and learning. |
| Exploitation Route | OUTPUTS We have created a significant repository of data, open for everyone to use (images, fieldwork reports, more than 50 transcripts of interviews with curatorial professionals in the UK, Germany and Norway, transcripts of interviews with more than 120 members of the audience of our exhibition and reminiscence groups). This will, we hope, encourage more research beyond the duration of our project and beyond the project team. We have also created connections between curators in different museums who would not have been in contact before. SKILLS Our project has also left a significant legacy that goes beyond the direct outputs. We have developed skills within the team: the PI and Co-I have developed new skills from working with each other productively and across very different organisational settings; two seconded PhD students learned new techniques and networks (one then secured a post-doctoral role in the project); and we have endowed three postdoctoral researchers with significant skills in both academic research and curatorial work, as well as reflective practice. The PI and Co-I expect to publish more, specifically on the question of audience engagement and the connections between geopolitics and museums. The project has also inspired discussions about collection practices and interpretation and our partner museums as well as beyond. SCOPE Widening the geographic scope towards a more global perspective of Materialising the Cold War will be a key task and challenge for future research. We have already begun working with the National Cold War Center (NCWC) in Blytheville, Arkansas, USA, sharing the results of our research project in a public discussion as the NCWC is moving towards becoming a fully-fledged museum. Another aspect of our work concerns the ways in which we our findings relate to the different setting of Cold War in Latin America, Africa and Asia: unlike in Europe and the north Atlantic, materialising the Cold War in these areas need to account for the ways in which this process involved physical violence, often on a mass scale. Probing the relationship between hat John Gaddis has called the 'long peace' of the Cold War in Europe and the 'killing fields' (Paul Chamberlin) of the global Cold War will be an important next step, not least because it relates to a number of important museological work in areas beyond Europe. A related research challenge in connection with the global context of the Cold War is to connect objects kept in museums to locations beyond the museum: this can be done through analysing and displaying object itineraries, but it can also be done by placing museum object - through accompanying audio-visual material or digital simulations - in their specific environmental context. In short, a Cold War museology raises the question of the relationship between moveable and immoveable objects especially acutely, in particular when it comes to the issue of how artefacts come to be seen as authentic representations of a particular period, location or experience. |
| Sectors | Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://www.nms.ac.uk/collections/departments/science-technology/projects/materialising-the-cold-war |
| Description | Our findings have been used - in curatorial practice at National Museums Scotland, including acquisition and cataloguing - in dialogue with enthusiastic communities (for example 28 Royal Observer Corps Group, Dundee) about audience development and museum technique; connecting them to others in the museum sector (including National Trust). - by sharing best practice - including display techniques - with museums that have established Cold War programming , e.g. Norsk Luftfartsmuseum. - the Advisory Board, conference and workshop participants now constitute an ongoing network / community of practice. - by feeding into funding application at the University of Liverpool, Leeds Beckett University and the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage - by promoting wider political awareness: at the Norwegian national day, at the Norwegian Consulate in Edinburgh on 17 May 2023, project board member Honorary Consul Professor Julian Jones presented the MCW project as an example of good practice in cultural/research collaboration between Scotland and Norway. Senior Scottish Govt and cultural leaders were present. - via knowledge transfer with the European Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPI CH) project, 'Destructive Exploitation and Care of Cultural Objects and Professional/Public Education for Sustainable Heritage Management' (DECOPE). We shared our research questions with that team and engaged in dialogue around the impact of the Ukraine conflict on heritage practice. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | Influence on museum documentation practice |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | National Museums Scotland has changed its documentation practice as a result, broadening the curatorial and audience understanding of the Cold War and its impact. Public users of the museum database can make connections and find out more about the Cold War. |
| URL | https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/search-our-collections |
| Description | Influence on the Collection Development Strategy of National Museums Scotland |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| URL | https://www.nms.ac.uk/about-us/our-organisation/policies-and-reports/collections-policies |
| Title | Bibliography of Cold War Museology |
| Description | This is a bibliography of Cold War Museology compiled by Jessica Douthwaite with some input from Jim Gledhill that will be continuously updated for the duration of the project. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The impact has been mainly internal in that the database offered a significant reference point for our research and engagement activities. It will be made publicly available at the end of the Materialising the Cold War project. |
| Title | Cold War exhibition fieldwork |
| Description | Summary notes and photographs of exhibitions and displays relating to the Cold War at National Museums Scotland, partner organisations, and other museums. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | These texts and images, which were used in the preparation of the peer-reviewed and professional outputs of the Materialising the Cold War project, are intended to be used by researchers and practitioners developing new outputs relating to Cold War heritage. |
| URL | https://nms.iro.bl.uk/collections/def1e6c5-4a92-4060-b304-ee3d7e751433?locale=en&view=masonry |
| Description | Allied Museum Berlin |
| Organisation | Allied Museum |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The project provides enhanced understanding of Cold War collections, displays and audiences in international context. |
| Collaborator Contribution | AMB provide an advisory board member, expertise, images and access to collections & audiences for the core research. They host Research Fellow Jim Gledhill during the project. |
| Impact | -- |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Cold War Heritage network (Northern Europe) |
| Organisation | Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) |
| Country | Norway |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is an emerging network of scholars working on Cold War heritage in the High North. It emerged from our work o Cold War museology and existing networks. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners are leading the network. |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2025 |
| Description | Global Nuclear Histories book series |
| Organisation | Open University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Holger Nehring has accepted the offer to serve on the academic advisory board for the new book series 'Global Nuclear Histories' (published by McGill/Queen's University Press and edited by Luc Brunet (Open University), Eirini Karamouzi (Sheffield) and Toshihiro Higuchi (Georgetown). |
| Collaborator Contribution | Exchange of ideas and knowledge deriving from global nuclear history. Potential venue for publications from our project. |
| Impact | None so far. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Imperial War Museums |
| Organisation | Imperial War Museum |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Materialising the Cold War has a partnership with Imperial War Museums (IWM) embedded in the project architecture. |
| Collaborator Contribution | IWM provide advisory board members, expertise, loans, images and access to collections & audiences for the core research. They host Research Fellow Jessica Douthwaite during the project. |
| Impact | Planned professional workshop October 2023. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Leeds Beckett University Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Management |
| Organisation | Leeds Beckett University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have contributed advice on Cold War museum practice to the 'Remembering the Cold War: Nostalgia and Experiences of Cold War Tourism' (funded by BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants Award), including contribution to a workshop in February 2023.The two projects will share data. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Researchers on the 'Remembering the Cold War: Nostalgia and Experiences of Cold War Tourism' have advised our project on Cold War tourism and shared their experience of audience research. The two projects will share data. |
| Impact | We presented at a workshop in February 2023; they have contributed an abstract to our conference/book, 'Cold War Museology'. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Royal Air Force Museums |
| Organisation | Royal Air Force Museum |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The project provides enhanced understanding of Cold War collections, displays and audiences. |
| Collaborator Contribution | RAFM provide advisory board members, expertise, loans, images and access to collections & audiences for the core research. They host Research Fellow Jessica Douthwaite during the project. |
| Impact | -- |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | The Cold War Network - Leeds Beckett University |
| Organisation | Leeds Beckett University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Members of the Materialising the Cold War research time have collaborated with the Cold War Network organised by Leeds Beckett University by attending networking events at Kelvedon Hatch and York Air Museum and offered advice on maintaining and expanding the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Cold War Network have opened opportunities for further research between members and have offered the opportunity to advertise the Cold War Scotland exhibition and other project outputs to their members. |
| Impact | This collaboration has introduced research team members to other Cold War related projects and has offered the potential for further collaborations in future. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | 'Artefacts and Advocacy' keynote at annual 'Artefacts' symposium at the Deutsches Museum, Munich |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Materialising the Cold War project promoted via an object study in the keynote at the annual Artefacts symposium of research-active science and technology curators at the Deutsches Museum, Munich |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | 'Curating Lively Practices' seminar at the University of Glasgow |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Museum studies seminar around the Cold War as Difficult Heritage at the University of Glasgow |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | 'Museums and Research' address to regional museum network, Barcelona |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 'Museums and Research' contribution to Catalonian 'Xarxa Museus Locals' in Barcelona with 'Materialising the Cold War' project as a case study. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Avoiding Armageddon: Tales of Cold War Britain, from nuclear threat to ghost bunkers and posh spies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Jessica Douthwaite was interviewed about her research on Cold War bunkers and the materiality of the Cold War as part of this Channel 4 documentary as part of the Fortress Britain series, presented by Alice Roberts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.channel4.com/programmes/fortress-britain-with-alice-roberts/on-demand/74745-003 |
| Description | BBC 3 Free Thinking episode |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | BBC Radio 3 broadcast for programme 'Free Thinking'. Dr Jessica Douthwaite contributed her research expertise to a panel of historians, an artist and author, Ian McEwan, to discuss experiences of the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis in Britain. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001c05p |
| Description | Blog for National Museums Scotland Website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In May 2022 Dr Jim Gledhill published a blog entitled 'Breaking the Ice: When Hugh MacDiarmid Met Yevgeny Yevtushenko' via the project section of National Museums Scotland's website. The blog used archive photographs from the Michael Peto collection held at the University of Dundee Library. The story of MacDiarmid and Yevtushenko's meeting at the former's home in the Scottish Borders in 1962 will feature in the project's forthcoming exhibition on Scotland and the Cold War to be held at the National Museum of Scotland in 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Cold War Museology International Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Speakers from historical, museological, heritage and memory studies backgrounds explored the challenges of conceptualising the Cold War in a museological context. Papers addressed interconnected themes: material collected in Cold War museums, temporality and periodisation, challenges and contentions and the ephemerality and intangibility associated with Cold War history. We also discussed in detail how to engage with communities on these topics most effectively. The 3-day event stimulated knowledge transfer between university-based researchers, museum professionals, and heritage enthusiasts. Specific outcomes included loan offers and content enrichment for National Museums Scotland's 2024 exhibition on the Cold War; and upskilling of curators at the National Trust. The event was evaluated and feedback was positive, especially around national/international networking. Keynote speakers: Professor Rhiannon Mason, Newcastle University: Professor Odd Arne Westad, Yale University. Papers (including 4 from research team members) Adam R. Seipp, Looking Out from Point Alpha: Cold War Memories in the German Borderlands Bernd von Kostka, 100 Objects. Berlin during the Cold War Bodo Mrozek, Beyond Materiality? Smelling the Cold War in the Museum: Trends and Problems Cecilia Åse, Mattias Frihammar, Fredrik Krohn Andersson and Maria Wendt, The Politics of Cold War Temporality: The Case of Contemporary Military Heritagization in Sweden Charlotte Yelamos, The Material Culture of Cold War Intelligence: presenting the archaeology of BRIXMIS Grace Huxford, 'There can't be any Wall left': nostalgia, 'domestic museums' and the search for a British Cold War Holger Nehring, Cable, Link Analyser, Synthesiser: Connecting the Cold War in the Museum Jessica Douthwaite, What Colour was the Cold War? Jim Gledhill, Through the Looking Glass War: Museums and exposing Cold War espionage in contemporary Berlin Johannes-Geert Hagmann, Beyond Janus-faced narratives: object lessons from the travelling-wave maser Karl Kleve, How the U-2 spy plane shaped North-Norwegian Cold War Identity Kristiane Janeke & Dr Jens Wehner, Presentation of the Cold War in the Bundeswehr Military History Museum NataÅ¡a Jagdhuhn, Musealizing Nonalignment: The Gallery of Art of the Non-Aligned Countries (1984-1991) Pete Millwood, Representing the Complexity of China's Cold War in Museums Peter Johnston, A War That Never Was: Locating, Collecting, and Exhibiting the Experiences of British Forces in Cold War Germany Peter Robinson & Milka Ivanova, Competing for authenticity, nostalgia and visitor revenue: challenges for curatorship in UK Cold War Bunkers Ralf Raths, The Cold War as part of an integrated military museology: Viewing World War III through the lense of World War II Rosanna Farbøl, Between memory and materiality: Cold War civil defence as cultural heritage Sam Alberti, The Vulcan's Voice: multiple meanings of a Cold War artefact Sarah Harper, Readiness for Red Alert: Engaging with the Royal Observer Corps Material Culture Susanne Muhle, From Cold War hotspot to myth: Checkpoint Charlie as Cold War site and place of remembrance Ulla Egeskov & Bodil Frandsen, Considerations on how to make a new Cold War Museum experience |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://mcw.stir.ac.uk/cold-war-museology-conference-reflections/ |
| Description | Cold War Museology conference reflections |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This is a blog post with Jessica Douthwaite's impressions of our major international conference on Cold War museology. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://mcw.stir.ac.uk/cold-war-museology-conference-reflections/ |
| Description | Cold War in Museums Toolkit blog for Imperial War Museums |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Cold War in Museums Toolkit blog for Imperial War Museums by Sarah Harper, repeated for the Collections Trust website |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | http://www.iwm.org.uk/blog/partnerships/2025/01/the-cold-war-in-museums-a-toolkit-for-professionals-... |
| Description | Cold War presentation at NuSPACES end-conference event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 'Materialising the Cold War' project reflections at 'Nuclear Spaces: Communities, Materialities and Locations of Nuclear Cultural Heritage' European cultural heritage network meeting, Science Museum, London. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://nuspaces.eu/about/ |
| Description | Conference paper on Connecting Scotland to the Cold War through museum objects |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a conference paper delivered to the international conference organised by our Materialising the Cold War Project. The paper will be published in an edited volume in due course. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.portal-militaergeschichte.de/carlton_cold_war |
| Description | Kelvedon Hatch workshop presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This is a talk by Jessica Douthwaite to an event at the Kelvedon Hatch Cold War bunker, organised by the Cold War Network around Peter Robinson and Milka Ivanova's British-Academy funded project on Cold War tourism. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Masters student exhibition session |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Tour and discussion around Cold War Scotland exhibition with University of Edinburgh masters students on curation course (6 students) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Materialising the Cold War Professional Workshop: Cold War Interpretation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We hosted a workshop for heritage professionals to share experiences of interpreting Cold War material culture for difference audiences. Originally arranged in person at the Imperial War Museum in London, due to industrial action on public transport we pivoted to an online event, engaging a professional facilitator. We captured the dialogue on film (with consent) and in wordclouds and will use the thinking in the workshop to develop a toolkit for practitioners. Impact included enhanced / new relationships within the group (NETWORK /collaboration) and that participants' (and others) practice in this area was enhanced. 1. Paris Agar, Head of Cold War and late twentieth-century conflict, Imperial War Museums 2. Sam Alberti, Director of Collections, National Museums Scotland 3. Kathryn Bedford, Curator of Collections and Interiors, English Heritage (Southeast) 4. Louisa Blight, Head of Collections and Research, National Museum of the Royal Navy 5. Kevin Booth, Senior Curator, English Heritage (North England) 6. Ewan Burnet, Curator of Film and Sound, RAF Museum London 7. Eleanor Carpenter, Professor of Interdisciplinary Art & Culture, Umeå University, Sweden 8. Oliver Carpenter, Curator of Infrastructure & Built Environment, Science Museum Group 9. Jim Gledhill, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, National Museums Scotland 10. Meredith Greiling, Principal Curator, Technology, National Museums Scotland 11. Michelle Kirby, Film Curator, Cold War & late twentieth-century conflict, Imperial War Museums 12. Steven Leech, Curator of Exhibitions, Science Museum Group 13. Doug Millard, Deputy Keeper of Technologies and Engineering, Science Museum Group 14. Holger Nehring, Chair in Contemporary European History, University of Stirling 15. Robert Rumble, Project Curator, Cold War and late twentieth-century conflict, Imperial War 16. Museums 17. Rachael Thomas, Acting Curator, Gairloch Museum TBC (museum in a nuclear bunker) 18. Linden Williamson, Materialising the Cold War Administrator, National Museums Scotland 19. Alex Geary, Curator, National Museum of the Royal Navy |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Materialising the Cold War professional workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a professional workshop, organised by our project, intended to develop a toolkit for museum professionals through a structured discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | National Museums Scotland annual open day presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I presented the project's questions, methods and outputs at the annual review of museum activities for the museum's members and the wider public. Several questions were raised, including any collaboration with Russian colleagues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | National Museums Scotland staff presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | With Principal Curator Meredith Greiling I presented the shape and results of the research project to the rest of the organisation. This generated interest and questions and enhanced colleague's' engagement with the project and its products, especially those involving NMS audiences (exhibition, web outputs, schools programme). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Nuclear Scotland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | We commissioned and produced this film, one of three, to engage school audiences with our research and the collections of National Museums Scotland. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/materialising-the-cold-... |
| Description | Online Talk for the Gairloch Museum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I gave an online public talk for the Gairloch Museum on the theme of 'Scotland and the Cold War' on 19 May 2022. The talk provided a general historical overview but also incorporated some of my research on the Museum building and associated history of Anti-Aircraft Command in Scotland. It contributed to the Museum's public programming for the temporary exhibition of Alex Boyd's Tir an Airm ('The Land of the Army'). My presentation added to local audience knowledge but also attracted interest from elsewhere in the west of Scotland. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Paper at War and Ephemera conference at Northumbria University by Dr Sarah Harper |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Paper on 'The Cold War in Scotland through Anti-Nuclear Ephemera' by Dr Sarah Harper at Northumbria University 'Researching War through Ephemera: A one-day multidisciplinary conference' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://hosting.northumbria.ac.uk/warephemera/call-for-papers-our-end-of-project-conference |
| Description | Paper on 'Materialising the Cold War in Museums: Notes on a research project' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a paper to the research seminar at the chair of modern history at the University of Bonn, Germany (Professor Christine Krüger). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Podcast on Scottish society in the Cold War |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Jessica Douthwaite discussed aspects of Scottish society during the Cold War in this podcast, specifically relating to the Edinburgh Conversations that tried to bridge the Cold War divide during the 1980s. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/materialising-the-cold-... |
| Description | Podcast on lonely sources and the gendered history of the Cold War in Britain |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | ´This is an interview on Jessica Douthwaitre's article 'Is Radioactive Iodine Present Equally in the Cream on Milk as in the Milk Itself?': Lonely Sources and the Gendered history of Cold War Britain, Gender & History, 34, no. 3 (2022), pp. 827-837. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://faculti.net/lonely-sources-and-the-gendered-history-of-cold-war-britain/ |
| Description | Presentation to European Cold War Heritage Network Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Jim Gledhill gave a presentation on the 'Materialising the Cold War' project to the European Cold War Heritage Network webinar on 17 November 2022. This was the third webinar in an embryonic international heritage network connecting practitioners and others with an interest in the Cold War across Europe. My participation came about as a result of working with colleagues from Historic Environment Scotland and Historic England on our project and will be followed by further participation in the Network and hopefully collaboration on the forthcoming interdisciplinary workshop at the University of Stirling in 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation to members at a professional workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented an overview of our research findings to a group of professionals from the heritage industry in the UK and some professionals from the private sector. The talk specifically focused on the relationship between museological research on museums material and built heritage - specifically Cold War-era bunkers and their usage. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation, 'Museums & Research', for Royal Society of Edinburgh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at the annual meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on museum research, using 'Materialising the Cold War' as an example. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Regular curatorial tours of 'Cold War Scotland' exhibition from July 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | During the run of 'Cold War Scotland' Materialising the Cold War team members have supported and provided tours of the exhibition to public and professional groups. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Researching War through Ephemera |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Blog reflections on conference |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://mcw.stir.ac.uk/researching-war-through-ephemera-conference-reflections/ |
| Description | School study events |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Study days for local schools |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Scotland: Cold War Battleground |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | We commissioned and produced this film, one of three, to engage school audiences with our research and the collections of National Museums Scotland. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/materialising-the-cold-... |
| Description | Scripted three podcasts on Cold War Scotland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | This is a series of three podcasts primarily (but not exclusively) targeted at schools. Jessica Douthwaite planned and scripted these podcasts and ensured timely delivery. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/materialising-the-cold-... |
| Description | Site tour for National Museums Scotland Board of Trustees |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | The Board of Trustees of National Museums Scotland visited the National Museum of Flight and received a tour of collections relevant to the Materialising the Cold War prohect |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Spotlight On: Cold War Scotland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In this spotlight talk at National Museums Scotland, Sam Alberti and historian Holger Nehring discussed Scotland's critical position on the frontline of the Cold War and share the stories of the Scots involved in this global conflict. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Talk for podcast Scotland - Cold War battleground |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | I talked about the transatlantic cable and telecommunications in Cold War Scotland. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/materialising-the-cold-... |
| Description | Talk for podcast nuclear Scotland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | This was a podcast on nuclear Scotland at which I discussed the role of Scotland in the global Cold Ware in an accessible manner. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/materialising-the-cold-... |
| Description | Talk on 'Materialising the Cold War' at DECOPE workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Representing the project in a professional workshop on Destructive Exploitation and Care of Cultural Objects and Professional/Public Education for Sustainable Heritage Management |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Talk to the Scottish-Russian society on the Cold War in museums |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Jessica Douthwaite delivered an invited talk to the Scottish Russian society on her research for our Materialising the Cold War project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Technical Industrial Artefacts as Sources for Technical & Industrial History webinar, University of Évora, Portugal |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Post-graduate seminar, University of Évora |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | The Cold War and Scottish Society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | We commissioned and produced this film, one of three, to engage school audiences with our research and the collections of National Museums Scotland. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/materialising-the-cold-... |
| Description | The Endurance of Scientific Instrument Studies invited keynote |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Upon invitation I deliver the keynote at a meeting to mark 30 years of the Paul Bunge prize for the history of scientific instruments, in which I included analyses of Cold War instruments stemming from my research on the Materialising the Cold War project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Ways of Knowing in the Museum lecture at the University of Manchester |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A memorial lecture on museum research, using 'Materialising the Cold War' as an example. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://blogs.manchester.ac.uk/chstm/2023/12/13/pickstone-lecture-2024/ |