The UK museum boom: continuity and change 1960-2019

Fiona Candlin; Andrea Ballatore; Jamie Larkin; Mark Liebenrood; Alexandra Poulovassilis; Val Katerinchuk

doi:10.1080/09548963.2023.2227864

The UK museum boom: continuity and change 1960-2019

Fiona Candlin, Andrea Ballatore, Jamie Larkin, Mark Liebenrood, Alexandra Poulovassilis, Val Katerinchuk

Digital Humanities

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2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

During the late-twentieth century there was a significant increase in the number of museums in the UK. Apart from the polemic heritage debates of the 1980s and 1990s, the boom in museums was not much investigated. Our project “Mapping Museums” collected and analysed data on over 4000 UK museums that were open in the period from 1960 to 2019. Here we present our findings. We show that the number of museums increased from around 1000 to a highpoint of 3360 in 2016, that the sector continuously expanded for 55 years, but that the rate of growth and closure varied depending on the museums’ size, governance, subject matter, and location. Small and medium museums proliferated, as did independent museums; growth in the South of England far out-paced that in the North; local history museums multiplied and new subjects came on stream. The museum boom re-shaped the sector.

Original language	English
Number of pages	20
Journal	Cultural Trends
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2023.2227864
Publication status	Published - Sept 2023

Keywords

museums
heritage debates
history of museums
museum studies
museum boom
UK museums
British cultural sector

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10.1080/09548963.2023.2227864

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09548963.2023.2227864

Cite this

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AU - Katerinchuk, Val

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The UK museum boom: continuity and change 1960-2019

Abstract

Keywords

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