ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the redevelopment and activist aspirations of St Fagans through a series of case studies, each showing the museum’s shift in ambition and practice over time. It considers whether long-term change in policy and practice at the museum can lead to the development of greater community agency at the heart of its work. In many ways, the museum’s shift towards an activist agenda is traceable back to this period, and the values and vision of its first curator, Iorwerth C. Peate. Peate’s resolve to develop a folk museum for Wales stemmed from a long-established anxiety among Welsh nationalists about the internal colonising force of industrialisation, and its impact on Welsh-speaking communities. The ambition is that Wales becomes a leader not just within the UK, but globally, in developing museums as centres for social action. Refugee House was indicative of the museum’s small-scale, fragmented approach to activist practice at the time.
