As mentioned in the last issue of Museums Journal, this year is the 125th anniversary of the magazine, which was first published by the Museums Association (MA) in July 1901. We will be celebrating this landmark throughout 2026, culminating with a special issue in November/December that will coincide with the MA’s annual conference in Birmingham.
We begin our anniversary coverage with a look back at that first-ever issue of the journal and the thinking behind its launch. The UK was a very different country then and so was this magazine, but there are also lots of subjects covered in that inaugural publication that still concern the sector today.
One of our key aims this year is to launch a project to digitise the Museums Journal archive – we have a complete back catalogue from that first issue onwards sitting in the MA’s storage facility.
Museums Journal is currently only digitised from 2000 to the present day. Having a fully accessible and searchable archive of all issues of the magazine will give us a far better understanding of the history of the sector and the role that the MA played in its development over the past 125 years.
As part of this, we also have a longer-term plan to explore the history of the MA itself, including its links to empire, and the digital archive will be one of the first steps to make this happen.
As well as looking back over the past 125 years, we also want to use the anniversary to think about the future. What do you, our readers, want from a sector magazine in the 21st century? And how should we develop our digital offer in a way that complements the printed journal?
Advertisement
We ask ourselves these questions, and many others, all the time and use our regular membership surveys to provide some of the answers.
But we’d also like to hear directly from you about how you see Museums Journal developing and how you think the magazine can engage, inspire and support you.
Your help will be vital in ensuring that Museums Journal continues to flourish for another 125 years.