“Save Our Pits!”: Representing the Heritage of Unions at the British National Coal Mining Museums

Keywords: Coal, Industrial Tourism, Great Britain, National Museums, Interpretation, TripAdvisor
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 41

Abstract

Coal mining was center stage in the bitter labor disputes between the British government and unions in the 1980s; a heritage recalled today in the national coal mining museums of Great Britain. Through labor victories and defeats, unions were a social and political bedrock for British mining communities for more than a century. After the National Union of Mine Workers’ strike contributed to an election loss for the Conservative Party in the 1970s, it was a central target of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s anti-union efforts in the following decade. The 1984-1985 Strike was a pivotal moment in the history of British unionism, with violent clashes between strikers and police transfixing the country. Although there were other contributing factors, the end of the once dominant coal industry in Britain is inextricably linked with the story of the 1984-1985 strike and wider union conflict. This paper explores the representation of unions, labor actions, and related issues at the Big Pit National Coal Museum in Wales, National Coal Mining Museum for England, and the National Mining Museum Scotland. It considers the primary discursive themes revealed in interpretive material, with emphasis on similarities and differences between the museums. Visitor reactions to the museums are also investigated via an analysis of comments on TripAdvisor. Taken together, the data sources help reveal the prominence of unions in the coal mining heritage of Great Britain and the extent to which museum narratives are engaged with by their audience.