Thanks Nick for that thought-provoking post!..and 'provocation' does seem to be at the heart of these discussions about Mrs T - you'll notice that I've given the ex-prime minister her full title in the title for the post here....(isn't it interesting that the way one refers to the person seems to say a lot about what one thought about her?.....'ex-prime minister' sounds like a Monty Python sketch.....
Anyway, personally I'm pretty ambivalent about a Margaret Thatcher Museum, I can see reasons why and why not...my historian head tells me that we have a duty to do something with such a legacy?...I think what's interesting here is that the debates highlight that the museum (history even) is always intimately bound-up with the politicial...
My preference, if we are to have a Thatcher Museum, is to have a whole series of Thatcher Museums...across the country....I think that would be really interesting (and in Helen's phrase (if we're borrowing phrases), 'co-productive'!)...I'm sure Grantham would have a lovely, biographical museum, with lots of ephemera from Mrs T's dad's shop....my money would be on the museum in Barnsley though...now that would be a really interesting exercise in co-production!....My feeling is that it could be both a space for reconciliation, as well as vitriol?.....
Could be worse...think about Jeremy Bentham and his 'auto-icon'....!
Mark
Welcome to the Leeds University Museum Studies Blog. Here you can follow the activities, conversations and debates associated with the University's School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies courses. We envisage it as an informal space for museum-related discussion, interests & the sharing of ideas. To join the conversation click the 'Get involved!' tab. We hope you enjoy it! Rosa and Mark
what an unpleasant thought - mind you, perhaps she could still attend cabinet meetings!
ReplyDelete