Making space for models: (re)representing engineering in Scotland’s national museum, 1854–present

Abstract

The model-making practices and the role of engineering models on display within a British (and since 1999 Scottish) Government-funded, ‘national’, museum are examined. The changing curatorial perceptions of models and their role over the 160-year history of the Museum are analysed, as are the spaces in which, and the processes by which, objects were translated and re-scaled into model form. Particular attention is focused on the Museum’s claims to ‘authenticity’, ‘authority’, ‘credibility’ and ‘realism’ in relation to models.