Broadside Describing Martha Browning’s Execution, 1846.
Out of all the amazing experiences I had during my placement with the Metropolitan Police Heritage Service, one of my most significant takeaways was an increased awareness of the challenges museums can face when exhibiting items associated with dark and traumatic histories.
The MPHS is a unique organisation, tasked with preserving nearly 200 years of Metropolitan Police history, from its founding in 1829 up to the present day. In accordance with this mission, the MPHS team oversees a one-of-a-kind collection, which is a hybrid of objects associated with Met policing history and of pieces of evidence from former criminal cases. It is some of the latter pieces of the collection which are traditionally displayed in the most famous (and infamous) site under the MPHS’s care, the Crime Museum at New Scotland Yard.
While the Crime Museum is well-known to most true crime enthusiasts, few outside of the Met understand its intended purpose. It is not merely a site created to display objects associated with infamous, and often incredibly grisly, crimes; instead, the Crime Museum is designed to serve as an instructional tool for police training. It is primarily for this reason that it is not open to the general public, despite continual requests from members of the community to be allowed to visit.
Due to the difficult nature of the objects on display within the museum, the MPHS team works diligently to ensure that for those who do visit, the exhibition’s emphasis is placed on education about the investigative methods used to capture the perpetrators, not on sensationalising the crimes or criminals. It was fascinating to learn about why specific objects from the extensive collection of former evidence have been chosen to be exhibited, and to see the care and consideration that has gone into ensuring that the objects are displayed in a way that is designed to be informative, not salacious.
My time spent in the museum, surrounded by objects which are each associated with dark and difficult histories, made me truly reconsider not only what objects we as museum professionals choose to display, but how we choose to do so. The objects within exhibitions, displayed before the public in glass cases, are items connected to real people, and, often, to life-altering moments in their lives. It is important for us to remember that there are stories attached to each artifact, and their significance to the lives of real people deserves our respect and consideration before we choose to make them readily available for public consumption.
Death Mask of Martha Browning.
I particularly experienced these thoughts while assisting with a conservation check on a death mask which is currently on display in the Crime Museum, a plaster cast of the head of a convicted Victorian murderess, Martha Browning, made shortly after her execution in 1846. After completing the check, I aided in undertaking some additional research into Martha’s case, including reading through newspaper articles and broadsides related to her case held at the British Library. Learning more about her story caused me to really think about the origins and meaning of the object itself. The mask, so unassuming on its display shelf, is actually a snapshot of a traumatic moment in history – a moment that caused the death of two women – the victim and the murderer. Martha’s story is just one of many such sad tales on display within the Crime Museum, and reflects countless other tales of pain and sorrow exhibited in museums across the country.
As we begin our careers in the museum sector, it is vital that we consider the objects that we are charged with preserving and displaying for the public. Many items held within museum collections are connected to dark and difficult histories, and as burgeoning museum professionals, I believe it is our responsibility to not only share those stories with the world, but to do so with care and deference.
By Holly Craven