Episode Description

Glasgow is famous for its museums and galleries - from The Burrell Collection in the Southside, to Kelvingrove in the West End. But as you wander around these grand, serene places, do you ever think about how these traces of the past got here and what museums are actually for? 

Perhaps they’re to inspire, to educate, to memorialise our shared history. Or maybe to help us relax on a Sunday or enjoy a nice coffee and piece of cake, but could there, or should there be the possibility that museums can make us uncomfortable?

It’s a question that’s in the minds of the curators and community at The Hunterian - the museum right at the heart of the University of Glasgow’s main building. The Hunterian is home to a beautiful and important collection of art and objects, bequeathed to the University in 1783 by the pioneering obstetrician Dr William Hunter, who was a former student. 

A collection tells a story about the collector; it also tells us a lot about the society, politics and trends of the time it was formed. But when we think carefully about how the collection was put together, it also tells us a lot about power, wealth and privilege  - and that’s where the stories can start to get uncomfortable. 

Discomfort is closely related to confronting the legacy of empire in our culture.  The museum exhibits often provide symbols or clues about the unspoken or glossed damage and violence within the historical record.  Reckoning with that imperial past involves ‘decolonisation’ an idea that’s in the minds of many people who think about history - from teachers and activists, to artists, curators and writers.

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First published: 25 June 2024

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