Energising connections in museum collections
The task of inter-connecting artefacts within the broad category of ‘energy’ across multiple heritage collections raises very significant challenges. Energy per se is itself invisible, manifested only in a bewildering diversity of technological mediations of its acquisition, storage or transformatio...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Science Museum, London
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Science Museum Group Journal |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/browse/issue-18/energising-connections-gg/ |
| _version_ | 1797938348329795584 |
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| author | Graeme Gooday Kylea Little Bernard Musesengwe Cameron Tailford |
| author_facet | Graeme Gooday Kylea Little Bernard Musesengwe Cameron Tailford |
| author_sort | Graeme Gooday |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The task of inter-connecting artefacts within the broad category of ‘energy’ across multiple heritage collections raises very significant challenges. Energy per se is itself invisible, manifested only in a bewildering diversity of technological mediations of its acquisition, storage or transformation from one form to another (e.g. chemical to thermal, or electrical to motive). And while energy usage via such technology is easily linked to industrial growth and global prosperity, it is also entangled in multiple stories of human and environmental destruction over many centuries, albeit unevenly distributed over social class and global location. How then can the Congruence Engine project draw some coherent stories together from heritage collections that hold energy-related artefacts of so many kinds? Our paper explores how the Congruence Engine’s Energy team will approach this task by taking as our starting point two specific collections of Newcastle’s Discovery Museum: steam turbines and coal mining. Focusing on that particularly convenient pair of preliminary case studies enables us to look ahead to how we can bring the Congruence Engine project’s digital humanities tools more fully to bear in linking such energetic heritage to other (at least part) digitised collections of films, photographs, songs and journals, etc. In so doing, we highlight the need to address the broader cultural landscape of energy, often involving emotional human stories, that bring meaning to museum audiences’ engagement with energy’s material culture. And in contrast to traditional museum narratives of energy history as the technocratic ‘conquering’ of nature, we consider how the Congruence Engine project could help to bring in a complementary approach: memorialising energy history instead as a human drama entangled with many forms of human loss. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T18:59:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c83670cbeb104f5189dd8b1fc135c89a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5770 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T18:59:27Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Science Museum, London |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Science Museum Group Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-c83670cbeb104f5189dd8b1fc135c89a2023-01-31T12:46:47ZengScience Museum, LondonScience Museum Group Journal2054-57702023-01-011810.15180/221804Energising connections in museum collectionsGraeme Gooday0Kylea Little1Bernard Musesengwe2Cameron Tailford3University of LeedsTyne & Wear Archives & MuseumsDiscovery Museum(Deceased)The task of inter-connecting artefacts within the broad category of ‘energy’ across multiple heritage collections raises very significant challenges. Energy per se is itself invisible, manifested only in a bewildering diversity of technological mediations of its acquisition, storage or transformation from one form to another (e.g. chemical to thermal, or electrical to motive). And while energy usage via such technology is easily linked to industrial growth and global prosperity, it is also entangled in multiple stories of human and environmental destruction over many centuries, albeit unevenly distributed over social class and global location. How then can the Congruence Engine project draw some coherent stories together from heritage collections that hold energy-related artefacts of so many kinds? Our paper explores how the Congruence Engine’s Energy team will approach this task by taking as our starting point two specific collections of Newcastle’s Discovery Museum: steam turbines and coal mining. Focusing on that particularly convenient pair of preliminary case studies enables us to look ahead to how we can bring the Congruence Engine project’s digital humanities tools more fully to bear in linking such energetic heritage to other (at least part) digitised collections of films, photographs, songs and journals, etc. In so doing, we highlight the need to address the broader cultural landscape of energy, often involving emotional human stories, that bring meaning to museum audiences’ engagement with energy’s material culture. And in contrast to traditional museum narratives of energy history as the technocratic ‘conquering’ of nature, we consider how the Congruence Engine project could help to bring in a complementary approach: memorialising energy history instead as a human drama entangled with many forms of human loss.http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/browse/issue-18/energising-connections-gg/energyheritagesteamcoalminersdisasterfilmsongmuseumnewcastle-upon-tyne |
| spellingShingle | Graeme Gooday Kylea Little Bernard Musesengwe Cameron Tailford Energising connections in museum collections Science Museum Group Journal energy heritage steam coal miners disaster film song museum newcastle-upon-tyne |
| title | Energising connections in museum collections |
| title_full | Energising connections in museum collections |
| title_fullStr | Energising connections in museum collections |
| title_full_unstemmed | Energising connections in museum collections |
| title_short | Energising connections in museum collections |
| title_sort | energising connections in museum collections |
| topic | energy heritage steam coal miners disaster film song museum newcastle-upon-tyne |
| url | http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/browse/issue-18/energising-connections-gg/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT graemegooday energisingconnectionsinmuseumcollections AT kylealittle energisingconnectionsinmuseumcollections AT bernardmusesengwe energisingconnectionsinmuseumcollections AT camerontailford energisingconnectionsinmuseumcollections |