ABSTRACT
The Imperial War Museum (IWM) can shed light particularly on the relationship between war, the senses and memory. The IWM thus stands at the intersection of a number of areas of interest for scholars of the senses and conflict. The IWM has further relevance as the close relationship between sensory experience and memory, both personal and collective, is also beginning to be interrogated by scholars of conflict and the senses. This chapter seeks to bring together these fields of interest to explore how sensory memories of twentieth-century conflict have been experienced in the IWM in London. The history of the IWM demonstrates the varied and complex ways in which visitors engage with past sensory experiences of war within museums. The chapter demonstrates the rich potential of these institutions for the study of conflict and the senses. Spontaneous cultural sensory memories have been a response to the massed material of war that the IWM holds and puts on display.
