SOAS Research Online

Abstract

In an era when university museums in the UK are engaging new audiences, this paper examines University College London's (UCL) museum and focuses on issues of knowledge, participation and community. Drawing on diverse collections and interests, this paper examines how competing ideologies relating to teaching and research collections raise complex internal political issues in encompassing diverse audiences. At the heart of this are matters of knowledge, institutional and personal memory, possession and control. This paper demonstrates how participatory approaches are as much about the management of knowledge and securing research funding as they are about education and inclusiveness. In doing so, this paper raises some germane questions about the future direction of the university museum in an era when universities are democratising access to academic knowledge.