‘South Kensington is practically as far away as Paris or Munich’: the making of industrial collections in Edinburgh, Newcastle and Birmingham

The provocation within the heart of the Congruence Engine leads us to consider not only the connections between our industrial collections, but the differences which shine a light on the gaps that exist nationally as well as institutionally due to the unique ways in which those collections were built. Emerging out of discussions held at the project’s launch conference, this paper will compare and contrast the foundation and development of the industrial collections held within our three institutions: National Museums Scotland (NMS), Tyne & Wear Archive & Museums (TWAM) and Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT).

The dedicated industrial collections which now sit within these organisations were founded in three quite distinct contexts: the Industrial Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh in 1854, the Municipal Museum of Science and Industry in Newcastle in 1934, and Birmingham’s Museum of Science & Industry in 1951. Beyond these founding moments, their deeper roots and ongoing development have been shaped by an array of events, individuals and organisations from the local to the international, including some they hold in common and some that are unique. In charting their stories, we will explore why our collections have acquired their particular strengths and weaknesses, and the implications of this for their contributions to a distributed national collection of science and industry. This will act as the foundation for further collaborative research throughout the project as we investigate how and why particular textiles, energy and communication stories can be explored within and between our collections.