ABSTRACT
Social history museums are about people not objects, and people are about emotions, not things. It is the contention of this chapter that emotions lie deeper within the museum psyche than collections. It considers the mission and values of the author's museum service, National Museums Liverpool (NML) in the UK. Museum of Liverpool's approach to emotion is kicking and Screaming, a film that looks at the subject of being a football fan in this football-mad city. Perhaps more than any other, this example engages with the currency, potency and importance of the emotional museum in Liverpool. It looks at some other examples of emotion in the museum, continuing in Liverpool. In 2003, at Merseyside Maritime Museum, we created an exhibition on the Liverpool Blitz. The Maritime Museum was in those days rather a dispassionate place, with an emphasis on the technology of shipping and the maritime industries, which some liked, but which caused many never to go near the place.
