Shake-up at National Media Museum
Bradford institution presses on with plan to transfer 300,000 objects to the V&A, despite opposition, as museum focuses on ‘core remit’
The full extent of the ongoing reconfiguration of Bradford’s National Media Museum (NMM), which will involve the transfer of at least 300,000 objects to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London is becoming clearer, with the institution’s head of collections and exhibitions saying a feared rebrand as “Science Museum North” is unlikely to materialise.
In February, the museum outlined its intention to transfer objects including the Royal Photographic Society’s collection of 270,000 images from Yorkshire to London. These objects, which were not on display at the NMM, will join the V&A’s collection of 500,000 photographs to form a new International Photography Resource Centre.
The Science Museum Group, which oversees the NMM, has had its public funding cut by almost 30% in real terms since 2010, leading to operational savings, including staff cutbacks.
However, Michael Terwey, the NMM’s exhibitions and collections chief, suggests that the plans show how “good museums” can “adapt to the world”. Despite press reports suggesting the contrary, a Science Museum North rebrand is unlikely, he says.
“That’s one that tested less well,” adds Terwey. “There are interesting issues with different configurations of words that use science, technology or media. If there was an obvious answer, one of the people we’ve been talking to would have come up with it by this point.”
The NMM’s focus will be “its core remit”, according to Terwey, including “majority practice in photography” and the professional shift from analogue technologies to digital.
“These are the kinds of things more museums should be thinking about doing, in a confident way, defining what they can achieve and taking a hard look at their collections, where they should be putting their resources and whether there are other institutions that would be better at putting resources into looking after things that don’t support what they are trying to do,” he says.
In response to local protests over the transfer of objects to London, the Science Museum Group’s board met in early March and decided that the fate of 85,000 items would be reviewed. It was suggested that the NMM would retain key objects from the Royal Photographic Society collection on long- term or permanent loan from theV&A.
The board also highlighted the transfer of “unique and culturally important objects” from the Science Museum back to Bradford, including those relating to the work of photographic pioneers such as Sir John Herschel and Sir Charles Wheatstone.
Opposition to the move
More than 27,000 people have signed a petition against the objects’ move south, including Bradford South MP Judith Cummins. Last month, more than 80 figures from the arts and culture sectors, including David Hockney, Mike Leigh and Don McCullin, sent a letter to the Guardian protesting against the move.
“If the board of trustees persists in running rough- shod over the legitimate fears and wishes of local people, it can expect a significant backlash,” says Cummins.
Colin Ford, the founding director of the NMM’s predecessor, the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, agrees. “I would leave the collection where it is,” he says. “England becoming one of the few European countries that will not have a national museum of photography does not make sense.”
However, Royal Photographic Society director-general Michael Pritchard is more supportive of the NMM’s decision. He says: “The society’s aims for the collection that carries its name are very much around increasing public access, ensuring the collection remains as a single entity across all of its parts and that the digitisation programme that has been started in Bradford is enhanced.
“The future of the media museum is probably stronger within the Science Museum Group, with its new remit on science, technology engineering and mathematics subjects.”
In February, the museum outlined its intention to transfer objects including the Royal Photographic Society’s collection of 270,000 images from Yorkshire to London. These objects, which were not on display at the NMM, will join the V&A’s collection of 500,000 photographs to form a new International Photography Resource Centre.
The Science Museum Group, which oversees the NMM, has had its public funding cut by almost 30% in real terms since 2010, leading to operational savings, including staff cutbacks.
However, Michael Terwey, the NMM’s exhibitions and collections chief, suggests that the plans show how “good museums” can “adapt to the world”. Despite press reports suggesting the contrary, a Science Museum North rebrand is unlikely, he says.
“That’s one that tested less well,” adds Terwey. “There are interesting issues with different configurations of words that use science, technology or media. If there was an obvious answer, one of the people we’ve been talking to would have come up with it by this point.”
The NMM’s focus will be “its core remit”, according to Terwey, including “majority practice in photography” and the professional shift from analogue technologies to digital.
“These are the kinds of things more museums should be thinking about doing, in a confident way, defining what they can achieve and taking a hard look at their collections, where they should be putting their resources and whether there are other institutions that would be better at putting resources into looking after things that don’t support what they are trying to do,” he says.
In response to local protests over the transfer of objects to London, the Science Museum Group’s board met in early March and decided that the fate of 85,000 items would be reviewed. It was suggested that the NMM would retain key objects from the Royal Photographic Society collection on long- term or permanent loan from theV&A.
The board also highlighted the transfer of “unique and culturally important objects” from the Science Museum back to Bradford, including those relating to the work of photographic pioneers such as Sir John Herschel and Sir Charles Wheatstone.
Opposition to the move
More than 27,000 people have signed a petition against the objects’ move south, including Bradford South MP Judith Cummins. Last month, more than 80 figures from the arts and culture sectors, including David Hockney, Mike Leigh and Don McCullin, sent a letter to the Guardian protesting against the move.
“If the board of trustees persists in running rough- shod over the legitimate fears and wishes of local people, it can expect a significant backlash,” says Cummins.
Colin Ford, the founding director of the NMM’s predecessor, the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, agrees. “I would leave the collection where it is,” he says. “England becoming one of the few European countries that will not have a national museum of photography does not make sense.”
However, Royal Photographic Society director-general Michael Pritchard is more supportive of the NMM’s decision. He says: “The society’s aims for the collection that carries its name are very much around increasing public access, ensuring the collection remains as a single entity across all of its parts and that the digitisation programme that has been started in Bradford is enhanced.
“The future of the media museum is probably stronger within the Science Museum Group, with its new remit on science, technology engineering and mathematics subjects.”