Collecting contemporary science, technology and medicine

ABSTRACT

Museums are often associated exclusively with bygones. This can be problematic, especially for those who manage science, technology and medicine (STM) collections. In seeking to correct this misconception with contemporary collecting, they also face other problems, especially in scale and complexity. While acknowledging such challenges, this opinion piece proposes opportunities afforded by the material culture of recent STM. Contemporary material can be used to tell stories as well as explain technicalities; it can connect with visitors using everyday objects and put ‘difficult’ material into context. Against the backdrop of practice and publications from across the sector, we present examples from the redisplay at the National Museum of Scotland in 2016, and from our current collecting initiatives. We thereby bring our perspective on the current state-of-play in STM collecting to the attention of the wider museum sector, drawing scattered practices together and weaving in our own.

KEYWORDS:

• Collecting
• contemporary
• science, technology and medicine
• National Museums Scotland

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Alison Boyle, Alison Cromarty, Sophie Goggins, Sarah Laurenson, Jennie Morgan and Haileigh Robertson. Sam Alberti undertook work for this piece while on a Short-Term Cain Fellowship at the Science History Institute, Philadelphia and is grateful to colleagues there for helpful conversations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Samuel J.M.M. Alberti PhD is Keeper [head] of Science and Technology at National Museums Scotland and Honorary Professor at the University of Stirling Centre for Environment, Heritage and Policy. Sam’s books include Medical Museums: Past, Present and Future (2013, edited with Elizabeth Hallam); he is currently working on the redevelopment of the National Museum of Flight and researching a book on science collections.

Elsa Cox is Orkney Project Development Manager at Robert Gordon University. Previously she was Senior Curator of Technology at National Museums Scotland where she was responsible for the energy and civil engineering collections. She led the development of the Energise gallery which opened as part of a major redevelopment project in 2016. With Alison Taubman, she curated Age of Oil and edited its accompanying catalogue (National Museums Scotland 2017).

Tacye Phillipson PhD is Senior Curator of Science at National Museums Scotland where she is responsible for the scientific instrument collections, with particular expertise in the physical sciences and twentieth- and twenty-first-century material. She has a particular interest in safely maintaining collections containing hazardous materials. Tacye led the development of the biomedical and scientific Enquire gallery which opened as part of a major redevelopment project in 2016.

Alison Taubman is Principal Curator of Communications at National Museums Scotland. She works with collections of television, radio and audio equipment, the history of telegraphy and telephony, and equipment relating to printing on paper. Alison led the development of the Communicate gallery which opened as part of a major redevelopment project in 2016; with Elsa Cox, she curated Age of Oil and edited its accompanying catalogue (National Museums Scotland 2017).

Additional information

Funding

This article is based on work that was in part supported by a Cain Short-Term Fellowship from the Science History Institute.