Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

The Tempest Anderson Lecture

A museum for the future: the Yorkshire Museum
by Andrew Morrison, Curator of Archaeology, the Yorkshire Museum

Museums have developed greatly in the 180 years since the Yorkshire Philosophical Society opened the Yorkshire Museum. The development of museum interpretation, object-based learning, community interaction, conservation and academic understanding of museum collections have all moved on greatly. Visitors, likewise, have developed with the profession becoming more informed and more demanding.

As a result of this development museum curators had, until recently, become more divided as their subjects become more specialist. These divisions are now blurring as the value of multi-disciplinary co-operation and partnership has come to the fore. This partnership involves the visitor as much as the professional. The recent Yorkshire Museum redevelopment has been built on this idea of partnership. As museums move into the future they do so in partnership if they are to succeed and outlast financially difficult times.

Report
By Carole Smith
This illuminating and engaging talk revealed how much light and transparency has been introduced into this very special museum. Windows and skylights have been revealed, walls knocked down and Victorian vistas exposed. Forgotten antiquities accidentally covered in previous works have been rediscovered. The crowded galleries of the past have not been restored – instead there is space round objects and room to move for the thousands of visitors who have passed through since the re-opening. They are also encouraged to touch, walk on, and engage with the objects.
The £2 million spent on the museum has achieved a great deal. Not only were the curators closely (and lovingly) involved with the transformation, thereby increasing their familiarity with the building and its collections, but the public has been invited to participate and make suggestions for further improvement. This partnership is already yielding results. The museum’s labelling is being enhanced as a result of public thirst for information, and a disappointing room display is to be changed. Letting in the light is proving worthwhile.