Abstract

With notable exceptions, specialist museums have generally failed to collect an adequate record of the material culture of post-war science and technology. Some reasons for this failure are identified, and some suggestions for remedying this situation are made with the help of a specific example: genomic science and medicine. Genomics is a quintessentially 21st-century science: data-rich, digital, and technique-and technology-driven. As such, it presents particular challenges and opportunities to museums wishing to improve their performance in collecting recent and contemporary science and technology. The paper explores different dimensions of this challenge through the attempt to establish a Museum Genomics Initiative, an international group of museum professionals who are committed to collaborating around the documentation of genomic science and medicine.