The motivation for creating the Museum of Scotland, and the educational effectiveness of its history content for the visiting public Ronnie Cramond MPhil by Research. The University of Edinburgh, 2011 2 Contents Acknowledgements 3 Abbreviations 4 Disclaimer/declaration 5 Abstract 6 Introduction The Aim and Shape of the Research 8 Part One The Creation and Purpose of the Museum of Scotland 10 Part Two The Role of Education and Learning in Museums 42 Part Three The Displays in the Museum of Scotland 57 Part Four The Evaluation of Visitor Reaction 113 Section 1 Evaluations conducted at sites not part of NMS 116 Section 2 Visitor reaction to the original displays in the Museum of Scotland 121 Section 3 Visitor reaction to the later (2008) Scotland: A Changing Nation 151 Section 4 Visitor reaction to a display at East Fortune airfield about that site’s 155 history. Overall conclusions 159 Appendices 1 Is MoS unique in the UK as a National History Museum? 162 2 The Philip Committee Report 163 3 Membership of the Museums Advisory Board 164 4 MAB paper of 21 December, 1984 165 5 Statutory Objectives of the Museum of Scotland 166 6 Reference Manual for the Museum of Scotland Project 166 7 Patrons' Council 167 8 The Industrial Museum's ‘Civilising’ Mission 167 9 Guide Training 168 10 History Beyond the Text: A students' guide to approaching alternative sources 169 11 The Declaration of Arbroath as the Contractual Theory of Monarchy ? 171 12 Questionnaire for 2009/10 Visitor Survey in the Museum of Scotland 173 13 Customer Service Standards for Visitor Operations 174 14 Mini Groups, and Teachers’ Feedback. 175 Bibliography 183 3 Acknowledgments First, I am most grateful indeed to my supervisor, Dr Ewen Cameron, for his always helpful and constructive advice and comments. The Director of National Museums Scotland, Dr Gordon Rintoul, kindly allowed access to many unpublished documents in the NMS archive, and members of his staff helped to trace and retrieve them from the bowels of the earth, where they had to be temporarily stored during the rebuilding of the Royal Museum. The staff of the National Library of Scotland, and Edinburgh Central Library were unfailingly courteous and helpful, as were the staff of Edinburgh University Library, and of NMS Library, despite both being plagued by rebuilding work, which, for NMS Library in particular, required the mining of levels of whose existence I had not been aware! Professor Lynch kindly drew to my attention the existence of his complete set of the papers of the Exhibition Review Committee, in 'Special Collections' in the University Library. This was a rich seam of information on how the displays in the Museum of Scotland were created, which has not been published, is not in the NMS archive, and probably exists nowhere else, unless other members of that Committee have retained their own sets. I am grateful to many members of staff of NMS, at all levels, for their patience and courtesy in responding to my endless questions and requests for sight of unpublished documents. It is really invidious to mention particular names, but I feel I should record my special thanks to, in alphabetical order, Stuart Allan, Stephen Allen, Willie Anthony, David Caldwell, David Clarke, George Dalgleish, Hannah Dolby, Alison Dow, David Forsyth, Jenni Fuchs, Catherine Holden, and Geoff SwInney. Jenni Fuchs, Visitor Studies Officer, gave access not only to unpublished evaluations, but also to samples of questionnaires that I could adapt for my own survey. I owe a great debt of thanks to those volunteer guides who undertook interviews for that survey, to Elizabeth Scott for her guides' CD-ROM and her photographs, and to Teresa Gourlay for material on guide training. Outside NMS, I am grateful to Mark O'Neill, Head of Arts and Museums, Culture and Sport, Glasgow for access to the St. Kilda Explored evaluation, to Lindsay Ball at IWM, for access to the Against the Odds evaluation, to Sue Wilkinson of MLA, to Heather Doherty of MGS, and to Lorna Ewan of Historic Scotland. Sir Mark Jones, formerly Director of NMS, spared time for an informal chat about orientation. I also benefited from having access, as a member, to the guidance on surveys in the website of the Visitor Studies Group. However, the use I have made of these documents and discussions, and all opinions, and errors of commission or omission are my sole responsibility, and do not in any way imply the approval of the management of NMS or of any of the other organisations mentioned. 4 Abbreviations ASVA Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions DCMS Department of Culture, Media and Sport DNH Department of National Heritage GEM Group for Education in Museums GLOs Generic Learning Outcomes GMS Glasgow Museums Service IWM Imperial War Museum MAB Museums Advisory Board MGC Museums and Galleries Commission MGS Museum and Galleries Scotland MLA Museums, Libraries and Archives (Council) MoS Museum of Scotland NGS National Galleries of Scotland NMAS National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland NMGM National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside NMS National Museums Scotland NTS National Trust for Scotland RM Project Royal Museum Project RSM Royal Scottish Museum SNH Scottish Natural Heritage SUSM Scottish United Services Museum V&A Victoria and Albert Museum VSG Visitor Studies Group 5 Disclaimer/declaration I was a member of the Museums Advisory Board, a Trustee of the National Museums of Scotland, and a member of the Exhibition Review Committee. So I started this research with some (unpaid), semi-insider, background knowledge. My being personally known to several curators, as a former Trustee, had the advantage that they probably spoke more freely to me than to strangers. Similarly, other staff may have been more willing to trace documents in the NMS archive for a former Trustee, and give access to unpublished working material. However, at the time of writing, it is more than fourteen years since I ceased to be a Trustee, and nearly twelve since the Museum of Scotland opened. So the passage of time should have lessened any possible personal prejudice in favour of displays which, after all, were devised by professional curators, and not by me. Moreover, my long service as a volunteer guide has put me in direct touch with external views – the visiting public’s reaction, as consumers. I have made a conscious effort to avoid personal opinions, and to rely on the content of published and unpublished material, and on the views of others who have written or spoken to me, or taken part in my visitor survey. No one can be completely objective, but I have done my best, and have not refrained from criticism, with the benefit of hindsight. I was also Honorary Secretary of the Intellectual Access Trust – the charity that commissioned Access in Mind, one of the publications referred to in this dissertation. However it was researched and written entirely by the Project Officer, so I have no personal responsibility for its content. This dissertation has been composed by me, is my own work, and has not been submitted for any other degree or qualification. R. D. Cramond 6 Abstract My aim was to investigate the motivation for creating the Museum of Scotland, and the educational effectiveness of its history content for the visiting public,. Part One examines the creation and purpose of the Museum of Scotland. What was its origin? Why have a Museum of Scotland at all? What was the motivation of the Trustees and staff who campaigned and raised funds for it, and created the displays? (This Part draws mostly on primary sources such as unpublished Trustee, Advisory Board, and Committee reports, minutes and papers, letters; and Hansard). Part Two summarises the views of academic authorities and museum practitioners on the role of museums in education and learning. Their writings parallel the change in thinking in NMS, described in Part One, from primarily just collection and conservation of objects, to a vision of displaying to the public the ‘Wealth’ of historical and cultural heritage that had been collected. (This Part is almost entirely based on secondary sources – published books and articles). Part Three analyses how far the displays, as actually mounted, embody the vision of the creators. What do visitors get from the labels, interpretation, audio guides, guided tours, and interactives? (This is based partly on personal observation of the displays, influenced by published authorities on display techniques, partly on personal discussions with several curators, and partly on access to an important, unpublished primary source – the minutes and papers of the Exhibition Review Committee which monitored the creation of the displays). Part Four discusses attempts to evaluate visitor reaction. This Part analyses reports on unpublished visitor surveys of ‘Special Exhibitions’ by the National Museums of Scotland, Glasgow Museums Service, Merseyside Museums and Galleries, and the Imperial War Museum (North). It also contains a completely new visitor survey of the Museum of Scotland displays, geared specifically to Generic Learning Outcomes. It was organised and undertaken by this researcher, with help from several NMS volunteer guides, who conducted some of the interviews. It was supplemented by discussions with visitors in ‘mini groups’ and by feedback from two history teachers about visits by their students. 7 The overall conclusion is that visitors did indeed learn from good, object-based displays, but many visitors, even native Scots, had disappointingly little understanding of Scottish history