Interpretation, conflict, memorials

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Well, I certainly under-estimated the significance of this event. Spot the heritage professional on a steep learning curve!

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Some questions about interpreting conflict

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Writing the words for a major museum gallery is like climbing a mountain.  It is a dauntingly large task that can make even the strongest grow weary. It requires training, careful preparation, a good plan – and, I now know, it is altogether more joyous in good company. I know less than very little about […]

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Beware of simple solutions and clear cut categories. Maybe beware particularly when you are dealing with conflict. Black and white are hard to sustain. I am prising apart the roles of heritage interpretation and remembrance/ memorialisation as I believe the two often become conflated. In my last blog post  I explained how I have come […]

Memorials, heritage interpretation and the First World War

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 At first, working with remembrance, with its focus on memorials, felt so familiar I couldn’t distinguish it from heritage interpretation. Both interpretation and remembrance can about remembering and keeping a story alive. They both speak to us of what happened, who was involved and what that means for who we are now. A year ago […]

Points of balance – interpreting current conflict at the National Army Museum

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A month or so I wrote a blog about why interpreters need to tackle difficult and contentious subjects which, rather flatteringly, attracted discussion (see here and here). A lot of people made interesting and thought-provoking comments particularly about the need for neutrality and balance.  It occured to me that, like wisdom, balance may be easier […]

Conflicted stories: why tourists need us to tell the tough tales

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It can be hard to understand a country as a visitor.  Some parts of national history, usually the highs and lows, are so well known by the natives that they need no explanation.  These parts of the heritage, arguably the ones that matter most, that give the most insight, can be hard for tourists to […]

Symbols and messages, old and new: Remembrance Sunday at the National Memorial Arboretum

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A few weeks ago I was honoured to be a guest at the Remembrance Service at the National Memorial Arboretum. Over the last few years I have come to know the Memorial Arboretum well as a visitor attraction (see here and here). On this occasion I had the opportunity to see it afresh: as a […]

“Hey! that’s my life you are writing about!’ – National Cold War Gallery, Cosford

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We visited three museums on Thursday as part of the AHI Conference in ‘glorious Shropshire’.  The RAF Museum at Cosford was the one I was least looking forward to.  It turned out to be the one with the best interpretation and where I had the most profound visit experience. (It is very often good to […]

Heritage interpretation as monuments and memorials

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Last week I was at a fascinating seminar on Spaces, Places and Practices of Remembrance and Memory at the National Memorial Arboretum, one of my favorite places (see here). Lots of food for thought. I found myself in the stimulating and heady company of academics from many subjects (from English Literature to Landscape History, Public […]