Invitation to Museums

As part of our Your Local Museum project, Honouring the Ancient Dead (HAD) are compiling the first comprehensive on-line database of the ancestors and their bodily evidence in the UK, particularly focusing on those of British provenance falling outside of the scope of the Human Tissue Act.

This ground breaking initiative, designed to inform and provide a universal research resource for all, is supported by some significant authorities within the museum sector.  Here the project is endorsed in their own words.

“The British public has a right to access museum collections of British ancestors and to know how they are being cared for.  This database will provide an important collation of information for the public and museum professionals alike. It is vital that museums make information on all their collections available to their communities and having this resource for human remains is a significant step in the right direction.” (Laura Hadland – Senior Curator History – Jewry Wall Museum, Leicester)

“I would urge all museum archaeologists to work with Honouring the Ancient Dead in the compilation of data for their Your Local Museum project.  The care of human remains in museums has been and continues to be an important subject for all who care for and value our shared past.  Furthermore museums have a responsibility to engage with all sections of their local community in order that they may truly reflect the needs and aspirations of their users.”  (Philip J Wise – Heritage Manager, Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service)

“The HAD website is already a very useful one-stop resource for information about British human remains, with links to all other relevant sites; the inclusion of the database will make it unparalleled in this country, providing data on human remains which are not available anywhere else but which we all desperately need in order to make informed policy and display decisions.” (Piotr Bienkowski – Deputy Director, The Manchester Museum)

Keep in touch with the project’s progress by looking for your local museum in our YLM Database.