The partnering of museums and academics: working together on history that matters

Purpose Museums and academics collaborating to create knowledge and learning opportunities is a current innovative strand of museum theory and practice. Working together across boundaries, incorporating a range of communication tools both inside and outside of the exhibition, the objective is to make the past more accessible to adults and children alike. The paper reflects the authors’ respective recent experiences of presenting alternative perspectives and interpretations on history that mattered, namely, a unique exhibition and publication entitled Recovery: Women’s Overseas Service in World War One. The authors offer a number of “signposts” for museums and academics to consider ahead of embarking on collaborative projects. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Theorising and reflecting on the research and curation of a public history museum exhibition that included high levels of community engagement. Findings The authors offer a number of “signposts” for museums and academics to consider ahead of embarking on collaborative projects utilising a collective impact framework and argue that these “signposts” are likely pre-requisites for successful museum-academic partnerships. Originality/value Successful partnerships and collaborations between the museum and the tertiary sector do not happen through goodwill and shared philosophies alone. This paper reflects the authors’ respective recent experiences of presenting alternative perspectives and interpretations on history that mattered, namely, a unique exhibition and publication entitled Recovery: Women’s Overseas Service in World War One.