Making and Unmaking the Cold War in Museums

Abstract

To introduce “Cold War Museology” and a volume of new essays in this chapter, we develop what we propose to be core themes of the subject. Our aim is to establish the Cold War as a key topic in museum studies, both in its own right, but also in terms of how it speaks to more general themes of contemporary museology. In doing so, we seek to learn from Cold War critical heritage research, bringing some of its analytical rigour to bear on museum work. Focusing primarily on curatorial practices and display analysis, we highlight three key themes for further discussion: the way in which objects reflect broader networks; the relationship between spaces, places and things (and specifically the ways in which objects create meanings when they are removed from their original locations); and the values that attach to collections. We also highlight absences in our discussions, including the question of how to address the global nature of the Cold War in the context of debates about decolonising collections as well as questions of gender and race when they appear to be absent from collections relating to the Cold War. This volume calls for a museology that reflects the ways in which the Cold War was both made and unmade, the spaces and places where this happens and what this means for museum collections, interpretation and engagement.