Books: Museums and Social Activism: Engaged Protest

There are some surprising parallels between museum practice in 1960s and 1970s in the US and discussions taking place in the sector today. Kylie Message’s study provides a reflective and detailed insight into this period in American history, which was full of political unrest, but also makes connections to what is happening in the world now and how museums continue to respond to politics and protest.

The book brings together historical accounts of the African-American and, later American-Indian civil rights, movements that took place on the Smithsonian Mall in Washington, DC, during the period.

It then explores the story of museological transformation and curatorial activism that occurred in parallel, and as a response, in the division of political and reform history at the National Museum of American History (NMAH).

Message covers a number of issues that faced the Smithsonian (of which the NMAH is a part) including representation of minority and campaigning groups in museums, the importance of collecting contemporary material, the changing role of the museum curator and the museum as a neutral space (or not).

Looking at examples of collecting contemporary American civil rights material highlights a number of challenges for curators of the time.

Message describes how professionals were collecting material “under the radar” and amassing ad hoc collections of material before there was an organisational imperative to collect artefacts from political campaigns.

New relationships

Message also outlines the types of objects involved, which are specific to this area of collecting and interpretation as they are often cheaply produced and of little financial value. This affected perceptions of the importance of the material when compared with other collections and other departments in the museum and the wider Smithsonian.

Once the active collection of political protest material gained approval from the Smithsonian at an organisational level, there were other difficulties because campaigning individuals and organisations were suspicious of the authorities and were unwilling to provide material or engage in the museum’s work.

This was particularly the case for large institutions such as the Smithsonian, and Message describes the close interrelation between the museum and the US government, which controlled decision-making around collecting practice and exhibitions. An exhibition titled Right To Vote was closed in the run-up to the 1972 election because it was “too controversial for good Republicans to see”.

The other side of the coin was those campaigners who were keen to offer their collections and to appear in museum exhibitions. Curators such as Edith Mayo at the NMAH in the 1970s reached out to those who were not naturally engaged with the institution, by building relationships to collect material for the museum by “attending a rally or protest”. “It is often hazardous to collect at such demonstrations, but from such collecting forays have come our most valuable ‘movement’ materials,” Mayo said.

Multiple perspectives

Many of the exhibitions about the American political system and civil rights movements described in the book evoked mixed responses from the public.
They presented an alternative history that many people found challenging.

The responsibility museums have to tell the whole story from multiple perspectives comes through very strongly in the work of curators who, at the time, were working to redress the balance and particularly tell the stories and provide space for African-American and American-Indian communities.

It is this point from the book that strikes a chord with our sector today. As the Museums Association’s Museums Change Lives campaign outlines, the best museums use their position of trust to encourage people to reflect on society’s contemporary challenges.

They promote social justice and human rights, challenge prejudice and champion equality. This is something that curators such as Mayo at the NMAH were trying to achieve in the 1970s and something that we have a responsibility to continue to strive for.

Katy Archer is the director of the People’s History Museum, Manchester