The Tory Culture War in Museums: The Wellcome
The Tory Culture War on Museums has been going on for a long time. In the 1980s the late Bernie Grant MP was campaigning for the return of Benin Bronzes to the countries from which they were stolen or looted by British imperial endeavours of previous eras.
The issue of returning objects to their rightful place, not on display in the UK, has perhaps focused on the British Museum but now the Tory Culture Warriors have opened a new front.
The Wellcome Museum in central London has closed a display of items collected by its founder Sir Henry Wellcome on the basis that they feature images and items which are sexist, racist and ableist. The Museum argues that in 2022 telling the story of health requires a different approach.
Predictably the Tory Culture Warriors have complained. The pages of the Times and Telegraph have condemned the changes. Far right columnist Melanie Phillips has complained in the Times (28th November) that the changes erase knowledge.
One might think from all this that the display in question had been their since time immemorial. In fact it has been there since 2007 and it might reasonably be held that museums change their displays from time to time to reflect changing interests and perspectives. Otherwise museums become themselves time bound museums
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