Beyond “a contradiction in terms”. Transport museums, research agendas, and public history

Abstract

Both Transport History and Transport Museums stand at a critical point, this piece argues, with both their academic relevance and public interest and support in the balance. Drawing on recent debate in this journal about the future of Transport History given the recent turn towards mobility, this piece argues that museums and scholars would benefit greatly from the joined up thinking that would allow for new critical perspectives to develop. The challenges of audiences and interpretations, so key to the daily work of museums, fit perfectly with the new perspectives on transport in the past academics themselves are wrestling with, and present exciting opportunities for reflective collaboration.