Museums urged to rethink their treatment of replicas

A team of researchers from the University of Stirling have launched a website and guidance that aim to promote the authenticity, value and significance of replicas.

New Future for Replicas calls for museums to recognise that replicas are “original objects in their own right with stories worth telling”.

The guidance outlines key principles for the understanding and care of replicas across five areas: understanding of value; knowledge and understanding; securing for the future; wider public benefit; and creating new replicas.

It has been co-produced created by a team of researchers, curators and heritage practitioners from north-west Europe. The project aimed to consider the implications of new research on the authenticity as a “socially mediated experience” and value of replicas for heritage and museum practice.

“Replicas of historic objects are widely used in heritage sites and museums, often in response to challenges around the original – such as damage, destruction, or restitution,” said Sally Foster, a senior lecturer in history at the University of Stirling, who co-led the project with Siân Jones, professor of heritage in history at the university.

“But their significance and the underlying stories of human creativity, skill, and craftsmanship which go into creating replicas, are often ignored because they are viewed as mere surrogates for the missing ‘original’.

“If we ignore or lose replicas, or do not adopt new practices in relation to the creation of new replicas, we will fail to release the potential they embody, to challenge our notions of authenticity and value, to interrogate our heritage and museum practices, and to acknowledge underappreciated human skills, crafts, passions and ways of seeing the world.”

One of the principles put forward by the guidance is that replicas merit the same care as other objects and places. It states that this might include accessioning, researching, conserving, and deaccessioning and disposal if appropriate.

Gillian Findlay, the interim head of museums and collections at Culture Perth & Kinross, said: “New Futures for Replicas necessitates an urgent re-calibration of how replicas are considered by museums and presents exciting directions for research, engagement and interpretation of these objects.

“The guidance is also an invaluable toolkit for enabling museums to apply a much-needed consistency of care to objects, which often span diverse collections and disciplines.”

The guidance was created during three workshops held in Stirling and Edinburgh, which were organised with the support of National Museums Scotland, ICOMOS UK and the Scottish Graduate School of the Arts and Humanities’ Heritage Hub.