Museum closure in the UK 2000-2025
Lead Research Organisation:
Birkbeck, University of London
Department Name: History of Art
Abstract
This trans-disciplinary project will establish the first dataset to focus on museum closure, analyse the distribution of museums that close, investigate flows of objects and knowledge in the wake of closure, and develop new concepts of the museum's life cycle.
Museum closure is common. Our previous AHRC-funded research, 'Mapping Museums', showed that over 850 museums closed in the UK between 1960-2020, that is, 20% of the total number, with the majority closing after the millennium. The combined effects of austerity measures, the pandemic, and the cost of living crisis, make it likely that many more museums will close. Yet despite the frequency with which museums close, we know very little about where it occurs, if it predominates in places with high social deprivation, or in rural or urban areas. Nor do we know what happens to collections when museums close, or if closure is always to be regretted.
Importantly, not all closures are equal. A local council may decide to amalgamate several museums to form one consolidated organisation, or replace an outdated institution with a landmark building. In such instances services may be improved. Alternatively, they may close the museum but continue to use the collection for outreach events or as a resource for offsite exhibitions, or they may have no option but to mothball artefacts, putting them into deep storage. Other museum collections may be broken up with some objects being returned to original donors, some being scrapped, and others sold, although we do not know which kinds of collections stay in public circulation and which disappear. For example, if artworks are relocated while rural history collections are scrapped.
Museums are defined as permanent institutions that are intended to preserve collections for posterity. Their closure is usually understood in terms of failure, yet at present it is impossible to assess whether that is the case. In this project we investigate the actual circumstances of closure and re-examine the dominant narratives of loss.
Our research will be of use to students and academics in museum and heritage studies and public history in that it will:
-Present the first sustained analysis of closure within the museum sector: how it differs according to the museums' location, governance, size, subject matter, or accreditation status, and combinations thereof.
-Challenge orthodoxies about the permanence of museums.
-Document new forms of temporary, out-reach and pop up museums.
-Develop ideas of the museums' life cycle
-Provide large-scale, quantitative empirical evidence on museum closures as open data for re-use by future researchers.
-Visualise complex data in ways that are accessible to humanities scholars.
This research is also important for museum associations, policy-makers, funding bodies, consultants, and practitioners. Given the likelihood of rising closure rates, it is vital to understand the potential impact of closure and how it can be mitigated. Accordingly, this project will:
-Provide up-to-date information on museum closure.
-Identify differences in closure and in how collections are disposed of according to location and context thereby highlighting the (in)equitable distribution of resources.
-Identify differences in collections dispersal according to subject matter thereby highlighting objects and associated histories that are at risk of being lost.
-Improve understanding of the legacy of closure on recipient institutions.
-Support strategic thinking with respect to museum closure.
Museum closure is common. Our previous AHRC-funded research, 'Mapping Museums', showed that over 850 museums closed in the UK between 1960-2020, that is, 20% of the total number, with the majority closing after the millennium. The combined effects of austerity measures, the pandemic, and the cost of living crisis, make it likely that many more museums will close. Yet despite the frequency with which museums close, we know very little about where it occurs, if it predominates in places with high social deprivation, or in rural or urban areas. Nor do we know what happens to collections when museums close, or if closure is always to be regretted.
Importantly, not all closures are equal. A local council may decide to amalgamate several museums to form one consolidated organisation, or replace an outdated institution with a landmark building. In such instances services may be improved. Alternatively, they may close the museum but continue to use the collection for outreach events or as a resource for offsite exhibitions, or they may have no option but to mothball artefacts, putting them into deep storage. Other museum collections may be broken up with some objects being returned to original donors, some being scrapped, and others sold, although we do not know which kinds of collections stay in public circulation and which disappear. For example, if artworks are relocated while rural history collections are scrapped.
Museums are defined as permanent institutions that are intended to preserve collections for posterity. Their closure is usually understood in terms of failure, yet at present it is impossible to assess whether that is the case. In this project we investigate the actual circumstances of closure and re-examine the dominant narratives of loss.
Our research will be of use to students and academics in museum and heritage studies and public history in that it will:
-Present the first sustained analysis of closure within the museum sector: how it differs according to the museums' location, governance, size, subject matter, or accreditation status, and combinations thereof.
-Challenge orthodoxies about the permanence of museums.
-Document new forms of temporary, out-reach and pop up museums.
-Develop ideas of the museums' life cycle
-Provide large-scale, quantitative empirical evidence on museum closures as open data for re-use by future researchers.
-Visualise complex data in ways that are accessible to humanities scholars.
This research is also important for museum associations, policy-makers, funding bodies, consultants, and practitioners. Given the likelihood of rising closure rates, it is vital to understand the potential impact of closure and how it can be mitigated. Accordingly, this project will:
-Provide up-to-date information on museum closure.
-Identify differences in closure and in how collections are disposed of according to location and context thereby highlighting the (in)equitable distribution of resources.
-Identify differences in collections dispersal according to subject matter thereby highlighting objects and associated histories that are at risk of being lost.
-Improve understanding of the legacy of closure on recipient institutions.
-Support strategic thinking with respect to museum closure.