An Address by Gerald Drewett to the Second International Conference of Peace Museums held in Schlaining, Austria, from 16th to 20th August 1995 

 

What is Peace?

What is a Museum?

What is a Peace Museum?

How do we all relate to one another?

Why do we want to tell the story of the past?   

 

There is only one answer:     

In order to understand the present, so that we can build the right future.

 

The linking of past, present and future is the strength of this word "peace".  Peace is the search for right living.  And the search for right living, the search to find the right relationships with our neighbour and with the universe is another variation of that fundamental question with which we should always be grappling:  "Why does humankind exist?  Of what consequence are we?"

 

Yes, I am linking the vision of Peace Museums and Peace Education Centres with seeking the answer to the most fundamental question that faces humankind.  Why does humankind exist?

 

What is this humankind?  In former Yugoslavia the media tells us (in 1995) how bestial and depraved humankind is.  It tells us nothing of the acts of human kindness and mercy and love which characterize the actions of many people in that sorrowful land.  But those acts of kindness and love are there because those qualities are natural to humankind.

 

Peacefulness is a natural quality.  It is one of humankind's basic expressions.  But the development of society, of living together,  has brought to the fore powerful corporate forces, such as nationalism and militarism.  Sometimes, it is almost as if peacefulness were never a natural quality.  Militarism and nationalism have promoted cultures which will need to be "unlearnt" if our civilisation is to survive.  

 

Re-discovering the power of our natural peacefulness may initially be reflected in opposing militarism and narrow nationalisms, but ultimately the way of peace is not an alternative "ism", it is the way of life itself.  Peace is the path we must all tread, both as individuals in our personal lives and as people in our corporate groupings, our societies.  We need to discover that peace, peacefulness, peacebuilding, are powerful forces in their own right, capable of governing the world with justice and without envy.

 

In our individual lives we must do everything we can to promote peace, peacefulness, peacebuilding, to promote the maturity of the society in which we live, even to the point of self-sacrifice.

 

A Peace Museum, then, is not a representation of a disappearing past, but an educational centre in which to be reminded that living in peace is the social and political reflection of that most fundamental of all human qualities - love.  It is our natural condition, but, as individuals, we still have a long way to grow in maturity, perhaps a hundred thousand years, and as humankind we are faced with a seemingly indefinite time of evolution before we enter into the fulness of our natural peacefulness. 

 

But we, as human beings, are actually in control of that indefinite time.  Every right action brings that time forward;  every wrong action takes that time further away; hence the vital work that our peace museums and our peace education centres have to do, to bring people and society to the peacefulness of natural, right living.

The world has to change;  the world has to mature.  So, let us continue with our work of changing the world;  let us work together and with a sense of urgency.

In the way of Peace

Some Characteristics of a Peace Museum

An Address by Gerald Drewett to the Third International Conference of Peace Museums held in Osaka and Kyoto, Japan from 6th to 10th November 1998 

 

When I opened the First International Conference of Peace Museums at Bradford, United Kingdom, in 1992, I said  “ A peace museum is like a candle.  It creates light; it shows a way through the half-light existing in our societies;  it shows a different way, the Way of Peace;  it expresses the deepest longing of the human being;  its power lies in its simplicity”.  There are a lot of characteristics in those few words.

 

At the Second International Conference at Schlaining, Austria, in 1995, I offered my vision statement, setting out the common ground that links us all, no matter which part of the world we come from.  That statement was based around the Way of Peace. 

 

So what is there that I can say at this Third Conference here in Japan, that I have not already said?  What we, as peace museums, have to say is part of a universal message.  As people we may have been born into a particular culture, at a particular time in history, and we may be seeking to depict the Truth from a particular piece of national history ..... but it matters not whether we are Japanese, English, German, American or whatever.  The motivation for what we are expressing and depicting comes from deep within us, deep within our common humanity.  Indeed, from deep within a humanity which is itself an integral part of an indivisible creation.  And what we are attempting to depict is most certainly not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of future generations, that they may know peace.

 

So, within this understanding of claiming to depict the Way of Peace that is deep within our common human nature, let us ask ourselves some questions.   

 

First:  Are we, as people, living at peace with each other.  Are all members of our staffs respected and treasured for the people they are?  Is it possible for a stranger to walk into our museum and feel that this is a different place, a place of loving kindness?

 

Second:  Are we at peace with creation?  In the construction and maintenance of our buildings, in our methods of heating, cleaning and so on, are we seeking positively to live and work in harmony with creation?  Are we environmentally “green”?

 

Third: In our relations with other peace museums, both within our nation and within our continent,  do we freely acknowledge the equal worth of every institution that is working, even making sacrifices, to build a better future.

If these questions are addressed genuinely, then we will find that the satisfaction felt at achieving some element of progress will quickly give way to the realisation that there are more steps to be taken.

 

Fourth, and most importantly:  Are we at peace with our own local or national history?  I have spoken of our desire to depict the Truth.  The Truth is not elusive;  it does not run away from us, but there may be many layers of subjective history to be peeled away before Truth is revealed.  And perhaps this is a necessary thing, because knowledge of the Truth may be not only unacceptable, it may be devastating.  We have to prepare for the revelation of Truth.

 

Much of recorded history can be very subjective, not just to the individual, but to the nation, to national pride.  But if an individual, a community, a nation is to live in the Way of Peace, the Truth has to be recognised, acknowledged and perhaps apologised for, because subjective history is a festering wound that keeps the whole body at war with itself.  The body must be healed and this can only be done with genuine repentance.

 

I ask myself, as a citizen of the United Kingdom, am I doing enough now so that one day my  fellow citizens, through our government, will want to express their sorrow for our nation’s part in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and will want to offer their unconditional apology for the subsequent and utterly unjustifiable atomic bombing of Nagasaki?

 

To the Japanese people I would say, do you know enough of the Truth behind your twentieth century military history?

 

But there is no nationality I can stop at in asking these questions.  There is something in the history of every nation that needs healing.  Every country needs a national peace museum, every region needs a peace museum, every town needs a peace museum.  Yes, there is something, somewhere, in the history of every community, no matter how large or how small that community is, that is crying out to be healed.

 

We must heal the past in order to build a future based securely in the Way of Peace, the way in which we see each other, and the whole of our natural environment, as requiring our full and absolute respect.

 

Background to the Formation of The Peace Museum

The Peace Museum was originally an initiative of the Give Peace A Chance Trust, a Quaker educational charity established in 1986.  The Trust has played a significant role in the development of peace museums worldwide. In 1992, the Trust convened the First International Conference of Peace Museums in Bradford, attended by 32 peace museums and related institutions in ten countries. The newsletter of the subsequently formed international network of peace museums is produced in Bradford. The conference followed the 1990 MA dissertation by Shireen Shah of the Bradford University Peace Studies Department entitled ‘A National Museum for Peace: A proposal’.  As a result of the 1992 conference, Bradford Metropolitan District Council declared its intention to contribute to the establishment of Britain’s first Peace Museum in Bradford, in cooperation with the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford. Patrons of The Peace Museum included Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the former Commonwealth Secretary-General H.E. Emeka Anyaoku. 

 

The legal ownership of the collection has now been passed to The Peace Museum Trust, and the management of the Museum transferred from the Give Peace a Chance Trust to the Peace Museum Company.  

 

Bradford Metropolitan District Council has supported the development of The Peace Museum by providing office and storage space, as well as funding for various projects.  Support has also been received from, amongst others, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Yorkshire and Humberside Arts, the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust, The Ferguson Trust and the National and Provincial Building Society.  Lecturers and students in the Peace Studies Department have been involved in research and consultation on content and the preparation of exhibitions. The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has provided invaluable advice and assistance on the development of the museum, including providing grants to set up the museum’s documentation system, a printer and other technical items.

 

The Peace Museum has a growing collection, efficiently catalogued and professionally stored, including a valuable and unique collection of graphic and fine art, rare books and documents and a range of artefacts and archives related to peace history.  The concept of peace is interpreted broadly, so the collection also includes, for example, material related to interfaith and intercultural understanding, human rights and ecology.  Through its contacts with peace, justice and environmental organisations nationally and internationally, additional items for the collection have been identified and it is expected that the collection will continue to grow.

 

The Peace Museum maintains and continues to develop a regular programme of exhibitions.  Initially, these were local events, but with the development of a travelling exhibition programme and the facility to display exhibition material on its website, The Peace Museum is having an impact across the region, the country and abroad e.g. museums in the U.S. and Europe.

 

The Peace Museum is a registered museum through the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).

 

The Collection

The collection of The Peace Museum is the only one of its kind in the country and thus is a unique and valuable resource.  The existing collection consists of over 5,000 items including graphic and fine art, water colour and oil paintings, prints, over 100 banners, flags, batik wall hangings, hundreds of peace posters from around the world, photographs, videos, audio tapes, slide shows and a collection of about 250 documentary and animated peace films, and a range of artefacts and archives related to peace history from the First World War to the present.  Examples include anti-war placards from the 1930’s, artefacts related to the lives of First World War conscientious objectors, and a wide range of items of peace movement memorabilia from the 1950’s- 1990’s, including diaries, photographs, badges, songbooks, etc.

The majority of the museum’s collection was securely stored on site at the museum’s gallery premises at 10 Piece Hall Yard, Bradford and is now at Saltaire.  A regime of regular environmental monitoring is carried out to ensure the collection is kept to standards demanded by the MLA of all registered museums in the UK. 

 

Premises 

Since 1997, the Peace Museum has maintained an administrative base in office space provided by Bradford Metropolitan District Council (Jacob’s Well, Manchester Road, Bradford).  From this office, it has organised temporary exhibits, events and other activities, while building the collection, arranging for collection care, and raising public awareness of the aims of The Peace Museum.  

While maintaining this administrative office, The Peace Museum also rents and maintains premises on the second floor of a listed building in Bradford city centre (at 10 Piece Hall Yard).  The gallery here displays the temporary and changing exhibitions and is open to the public two days a week and at other times by appointment. From these premises exhibitions have been created that go out locally, nationally and internationally, to appropriate venues. The premises are also a base for holding organised events and activities, including schools’ visits, related to the themes represented in the collection.  

Future Direction

 

The Peace Museum’s key aims, as identified in the Museum’s Forward Plan 2009-2011, centre around eight areas of focus and include:

Collection:

• To develop, manage and conserve the museum’s collection to ensure long-term preservation and benefit to the public.
• Education and Learning:
• To support and deliver education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Exhibitions:

• To develop and create a programme of temporary and permanent exhibitions that inform, engage and inspire.  

Visitors Services:

• To provide high quality experiences and service to visitors both actual and virtual.

Research

• To undertake collections related research in order to increase knowledge about our collection and to interpret our collections to the public.

Outreach:

• To work in partnership with other museums, cultural and educational organisations to deliver services, advice and expertise.

Communication:

• To increase public awareness of the museum and our activities.

Future Development:

• To develop financial, physical and human resources in order to deliver outstanding services at optimum value for money.