Tomorrow’s History in the Museum

This paper contributes to the current discussion on best practices in collecting materials relevant to present-day society and documenting history in the making.

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Contemporary collecting relies on the expertise of museum professionals. They identify, acquire, and safeguard current objects and testimonies that can illustrate and challenge history writing in the future. This paper presents the contemporary collecting endeavours of the House of European History—a museum that opened its doors in Brussels in 2017, as an academically independent project of the European Parliament. It contributes to the current discussion on best practices in collecting materials relevant to present-day society and documenting history in the making. In particular, it stresses the importance for a history museum to document significant aspects of the present and focuses on two recent collecting actions of the House, which were undertaken to document the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine.

In Culture. Society. Economy. Politics - Volume 2 (2022) - Issue 2 - "Museums. Communities, and Society" (open access)