Dissonant Heritage in Museums

Rick Lawrence, digital media officer

at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter

Dissonant heritage or what collective memory swept under the carpet

•Baltic States discussing preserving Soviet era structures – symbols of occupation

•South Africa’s Robben Island museum – an official narrative

•Denmark’s Welfare Museum – living memory and survivors

An example from Exeter

• 1919 the War Trophies Commission allocated souvenirs from German troops to museums and civic bodies

• The city wanted to move on so objects were stored and their purpose lost to memory

• 2014 Centenary of the First World War and museum records are checked; trench armour rescued from the handling collection and conserved

• Objects are now displayed and available online

Where to go from here?

• Change “Dark tourism” and conflict heritage through community based education, political and social inclusion

• Move towards mutual heritage

• A continuing process