The National Railway Museum's efforts to preserve important stories and technologies, many of which will be exhibited in a forthcoming gallery.
Context
The National Railway Museum's Masterplan is changing the museum so that it can celebrate the past, present and future of railways and engineering. Contemporary collecting will play a key role in the museum's long-term future as it actively preserves important stories and technologies that reflect an ever-changing industry and its response to challenges.
Many contemporary objects collected as part of this work will be exhibited in Railway Futures: The Porterbrook Gallery, a new flagship gallery that will examine the future of the world’s railways.
Aim
The project seeks to acquire new objects and archives in five key subject areas:
- Innovation technology
- Railway industry work culture
- Protest and campaigning
- Environmental events
- Passenger experience
Outcomes
The contemporary collecting project will highlight histories previously hidden from audiences and reveal the broad range of social, economic and ethnic backgrounds of those who have used, worked on and been impacted by the railway in the UK and wider world. It will also highlight innovations in technology, the people working to make these innovations a reality and their potential impact on a society.
The objects and archives collected by the project will form an important record of the contemporary rail industry for researchers into the future, and illuminate the changing nature of the industry through innovation and social change.
Outputs
- Many objects collected as part of the project will be exhibited in Railway Futures: The Porterbrook Gallery
- Other objects collected as part of the project will be displayed in the museum as part of its public programme
- Object records, including photography (subject to copyright), will be added to our publicly accessible Collections Online
- At-risk objects will be preserved for future generations so that they may understand their impact
Contact
We welcome queries about the project, and are very happy to talk to individuals and organisations interested in donating objects that may fit our collecting criteria. Please get in touch with Alison Kay and Rob Scargill.
