Migration Museum to Reopen its Door to Visitors

by Sara Manfrè

The migration museum will reopen after a forced period of closure because of the pandemic.

image: Migration Museum

After seven years of temporary locations, such as 2017’s location in Lambeth, the Migration Museum finally found its location in Lewisham’s shopping centre. The museum moved there last February, but had to close down after a month following the lockdown’s rules.

Thanks to their new location Matthew Plowright, Migration Museum’s Head of Communication, said they hope to reach people who are interested in the topic, but also people who do not think that migration is relevant to them or have not thought about it. They are confident that more people will come.

With the reopening of the museum, a new exhibition will start. Departures will look into 400 years of emigrations stories from Britain, emigration will be explored in its full - why people have left and why they still leave.

"if we look at everyone’s family history, we will find stories of migration"

All the staff at the museum are looking forward to reopening in autumn, but in the meantime they are planning new digital exhibitions said Plowright. The next one will be Hearth of a Nation, Migration and the Making of the NHS, and it will look at personal stories of people who have come to Britain to work in the NHS since its creation in 1948 until the present day.

The idea behind the migration museum was born from a group of different people. Some of them are trustees of the museum like Robert Winder, Barbara Roche, and Sophie Henderson, who all thought that migration is a central part of Britain’s story, and that were involved or had a connection with migration stories in some way.

The idea behind the Migration Museum, and what united the museum’s staff, said Plowright, “was that sense that migration is a central part of Britain’s history and our story, both individually to us but also collectively as a nation. The idea is to create a national museum that can explore how the movement of people to and from Britain across history has made us who we are today.”

In fact, Plowright explained that migration is relevant to everyone because if we look at everyone’s family history, we will find stories of migration, whether they are internal migrations, countryside to city, or international migrations.

The Migration Museum’s first exhibition in 2013, in Hackney museum and then on tour, illustrated migrations through people’s photographs. The museum also went to schools to educate about this topic

images provided by Migration Museum