Museum Review:  Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh

Heather Munro Prescott

Founded in 1955, this museum claims to be the first such institution dedicated to the history of childhood.  The museum's founder, Joseph Patrick Murray (1908-1981) was a bachelor who claimed not to like children, stating that they were "only tolerable after their baths and on their way to bed."  Murray insisted in the museum's first guidebook that "this is not a children's museum; it is a museum about them."* Consequently, the museum strives to avoid a simplistic nostalgia trip by providing a thorough, unsentimental look at childhood over the past three hundred years. 

The collection is spread through five floors and is organized thematically into categories such as health and hygiene, food and drink, school days, children at work, and toys, games and pastimes.  Murray's original captions to the exhibits are informative and entertaining, with an off-beat sense of black humor similar to that of children's author Roald Dahl.  For example, Murray accompanies a design for a proposed memorial window to King Herod's "Massacre of the Innocents" with the following:  "Modern reseach suggests that the exact number of 'Innocents' massacred could not have been more than twelve or fifteen.  To a Museum Curator, when distracted by noisy or aggravating children, this seems a very disappointing total, and one well within his capacities to improve."  Since the museum is purported to be the noisiest in Edinburgh, adults might find the preceding remark humorous, if horrifying.  Yet Murray realized that adults could be just as horrible, if not downright despicable toward children.  Consequently, the museum provides an unvarnished look at some of the more disagreeable aspects of childhood's past, including an excellent section on child labor.  At the same time, the curatorial staff attempts to show that the lives of working children were not ones of unremitting misery, and illustrates how children were able to find fun and pleasure amidst even the worst urban squalor. 

On the whole, the museum provides an excellent balance between entertainment and education.  At times, I found the sheer volume of objects overwhelming and younger children will probably grow bored long before reaching the end of the museum.  I also was a bit annoyed that one entered (and exited) the museum through the giftshop, although admission to the collections is free.  Nevertheless, I would highly recommend a visit to this charming museum.  It is located at 42 High Street, on Edinburgh's historic Royal Mile.  Hours are Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm and Sunday noon-5pm.  The museum itself does not have a website, but further information can be found at the City of Edinburgh Council's Museum and Galleries website, http://www.cac.org.uk/

* Information on the museum comes from John Heyes, Museum of Childhood Edinburgh, Second Edition (City of Edinburgh Museums and Art Galleries 1986 & 1993), which can be purchased in the Museum Shop.