The ‘Museum Closure in the UK’ research project was the first time anyone had systematically tracked museum closure and the subsequent collection disposal. We collected data on which museums closed, why they closed, and what happened to the collections. We analysed the data and we critically reassessed ideas of closure and notions of permanence within the museum sector.
Museum Closure in the UK 2000-25 has four main outputs:
A web application that enables users to search, visualise, and download the data on closure. It is free to use under the terms of the Creative Commons (BY) licence.
A report entitled ‘Closed Museums and their Collections’ that summarises the data.
A series of academic articles addressing research methods and findings.
A monograph, provisionally titled Museum Afterlives that uses archival and interview-based research to develop themes and questions arising from the data analysis. Publication is planned for 2027.
Museum Closure in the UK 2000-25 was awarded £997,000 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Research began in October 2023 and will continue until September 2026.