The contribution made by museums and local heritage centres to the preservation of our national and local culture will be the subject of a one-day conference at the University of Aberdeen on Saturday, June 5.
Northern Identities: Preserving and Presenting Culture will bring together academics and curators from some of Scotland’s leading museums, who will discuss how museums and other cultural collections can contribute to an informed care for our heritage.
Museums throughout the country, from the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh to the smallest local heritage centre, are preserving and presenting the evidence for our history to a wide audience of both residents and visitors. In fact, there are more visitors to museums than to football matches.
Marischal Museum curator Neil Curtis said it was a particularly pertinent time for the conference, following the recent arrival of the new Scottish Parliament
“People in Scotland are now becoming more interested in their local and regional, as well as national, senses of identity. This conference will concentrate on these issues, showing ways in which museums, local history groups and heritage centres can be focal points of their communities,” he said.
“Museums are not just about the past. The objects that we choose to collect and the exhibitions that we design reveal our own interests and senses of identity. I hope that during this conference we will discover how museums are dealing with these issues to become more accessible and relevant to people today.”
Speakers will include Professor Tom Devine, Director of the University’s Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies, who will explore the way in which Scottish identity developed during the nineteenth century, while David Caldwell, of the National Museums of Scotland, will look at how Scottish identity is seen in the new Museum of Scotland.
Other speakers will look at contemporary ways of preserving and presenting cultural identities – Elspeth King of the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Graham Noble of the Book of Deer Project, John Edwards of Aberdeen City Museums, Neil Curtis of Marischal Museum and Janet Hunter of the University’s Celtic Department. Jane Ryder of the Scottish Museums Council will give the closing address.
The event is open to the public and will take place at Marischal College, on Saturday, June 5, from 10am to 5pm. It has been organised by the University’s Elphinstone Institute and Marischal Museum. Anyone wishing to attend should contact the University on (01224) 272996.