Participating in the Past: Museums – A Special Case

3.6 Museums: A Special Case

A number of the comments received on the subject of museums and archaeology were from those themselves employed within museum services, but there was both support and some criticism from correspondents.

A number of archaeological units when they made their debut had strong museum links, and indeed museum archaeologists were often in the forefront in arguing for their creation. Several correspondents noted a substantial decline in the number of archaeologists now working in museums, the poor funding for local museum services and the adverse effect that this had had on the exercise of archaeology in general, in particular the common lack of effective links with the local community. Liaison between archaeologists within museums and those in local planning authorities was not always seen as productive and it was suggested that some potentially useful roles seemed to be acknowledged by neither.

There was a feeling from the museum side that the museum’s role is undervalued by commercial units and although there may be opportunities for productive relationships, museums are more likely to be seen simply as archive repositories. With the occasional exception, the value of these archives as a public resource was felt to be undervalued. However, as noted above, respondents suggested that museums should be more willing to give hands-on access to finds in order to assist the practical learning process about archaeological materials.

Finally, it was noted that although in theory there should be plentiful opportunities for ‘volunteers’ within a museum framework, in practice there may be serious constraints in using volunteers both in terms of staff and physical resources.