What is a Cold War object? How have museums collected and interpreted the Cold War in the past and how might they in future? How do audiences respond to the Cold War in museum displays? These were among the guiding questions for the Materialising the Cold War project team. This project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC ref AH/ V001078/1), and led by National Museums Scotland and the University of Stirling, collaborated with partners in Germany, Norway and the UK to explore how museums represent the Cold War, its global experience and legacy, and how they can adapt to tell this complex story in future.

Through this project we have developed new ideas and practices for interpreting and displaying the Cold War in museum and heritage settings. Our work has covered academic research, specialist events, newly-produced school resources, publications including Cold War Museology and Cold War Scotland, and the Cold War Scotland exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland.

Reflecting on insights from museum professionals and our own experiences engaging with Cold War material culture, we have produced The Cold War in Museums toolkit. This is an informative guide on collecting, interpreting, and displaying Cold War history designed for professionals and volunteers in museum and heritage settings of all sizes.

This toolkit is the culmination of extensive research and collaboration with professionals from a range of museums, archives and Cold War sites and especially those who offered invaluable guidance as part of a dedicated advisory board. Our ethnographic research involved in-depth analysis of Cold War-related exhibitions and displays at museums throughout the UK, Norway, and Germany. The aim of this was to understand how other museums have approached this complex topic through their varied mediums of display and public engagement projects. We conducted interviews with museum and heritage professionals who generously shared their insights and experiences of the challenges surrounding displaying and interpreting the Cold War specific to their unique sites and collections. This gave us the opportunity to learn from their past experiences to inform our own exhibition, practices, and advice for this toolkit. 

To further enhance best practices for collecting and exhibiting the Cold War, we hosted a professional workshop on Cold War interpretation in October 2023. Attendees included representatives from the Imperial War Museum, the Science Museum, English Heritage, and the National Museum of the Royal Navy. These experts brought a wealth of experience in curating Cold War exhibitions and managing related collections and contributed valuable perspectives on the unique challenges involved. The toolkit includes five case studies from museum professionals who have each interacted with Cold War heritage and history in various ways. These case studies are drawn from the experiences of curators at Dover Castle, the York Cold War Bunker, the RAF Museum, the Science Museum and National Museums Scotland to demonstrate best practice, lessons learnt and key considerations in terms of audiences and impact when collecting, interpreting and displaying the Cold War.

We encourage readers of this toolkit to view their collections through a Cold War lens and provide practical advice on addressing this complex and often sensitive heritage. Whether colleagues have previous experience with Cold War objects or are discovering potential connections within their collections, we hope this toolkit will inspire new ideas and perspectives.

The toolkit includes step by step advice for identifying Cold War objects and assessing their Cold War connections. It offers strategies for addressing collections gaps, such as creative sourcing methods and utilising oral history testimony. We emphasise the importance of considering audiences throughout the interpretation stage, as Cold War topics may touch on sensitive or traumatic experiences for some visitors. We recommend focusing on key themes, events, or narratives to convey this multi-dimensional story in a way that resonates with a range of audiences.

We hope this toolkit inspires and promotes discussions around the Cold War in the museums and that readers benefit from the lessons we have learned over the course of the Materialising the Cold War project.

Let us know when you engage with the toolkit or if you would like a printed copy of the toolkit by contacting [email protected] 

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