About

Inform  Engage Inspire

What is the Peace Museum?

The Peace Museum is the only museum dedicated to peace in the UK.

What do we strive to do?

We aim to engage, inform and inspire visitors, by using our collection, through exhibitions, learning, education and outreach work and by exploring local, national and international issues of equality, diversity, cohesion, peace and nonviolence.

Our Aims

1. To develop, manage and conserve a collection based on local, national and international peace history and initiatives, to ensure its long-term preservation and benefit to all.

2. To support and deliver education and lifelong learning opportunities for all; to help people to engage with issues of diversity, equality, cohesion, peace and conflict.

3. To develop temporary and permanent exhibitions based on personal and group narratives which engage public interest.

4. To make use of emerging and new technologies to allow exploration and engagement with the collection.

5. To provide a high quality visitor experience for actual and virtual visitors to the museum.

6. To undertake collections research and to aid external researchers to use our collection in order to increase knowledge of both our collection and the story of peace movements.

7. To work in partnership with other cultural and educational organisations locally, nationally and internationally.

An untold story

The history of peace is often an un-told story. The museum attempts to tell this story by focusing on the countless people who have wanted peace, who have worked to bring an end to conflict, make the world a better place for all and to bring about cohesion. These stories range from those of conscientious objectors in World War One, the campaign against nuclear weapons, the story of Greenham Common and contemporary stories of conflict and peace, locally, nationally and internationally.

Not just history

The Peace Museum asks that people consider the past and the present (which is the history of tomorrow) and explore how this may educate, inspire, innovate, commemorate and transform attitudes and behaviours. We hope that the Museum will inspire, stimulate the imagination and encourage action for peace.

Background

The initial idea of creating a peace museum arose in the mid-1980s from Gerald Drewett of the Give Peace a Chance Trust. In 1990 the idea was carried forward and given substantial form when Shireen Shah, an MA student at Bradford University’s Peace Studies Department, wrote her dissertation proposing a ‘Museum for Peace’. Two years on, the International Network of Museums for Peace held its first conference at the University of Bradford in 1992, during which it was proposed that a Peace Museum be established in Bradford and a committee was established to seek finance and general support for the idea. Initially called ‘The National Peace Museum Project’, the museum became established in 1994 through a five-year grant from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Foundation and operated out of a temporary site in Bradford city centre. In 1998 the museum moved to its present site within the historic Commercial Bank building on Piece Hall Yard in Bradford city centre.

Structure

The Peace Museum is a charity and is a company limited by guarantee with ten Trustees and a small staff of three.

It is independent and has no political affiliation.

It is a fully Accredited museum by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), a member of the International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP) and a partner of the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM).

Inspiration     Imagination     Action

Registered charity no: 1061102
Registered company no: 3297915