ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the complex relationship that exists between broad social features and specific museum practices. Two areas of social change that have affected both Leicester City as a whole and the Museum in particular can be found in the changing role of women within society and their place within the Museum workforce. The importance of women as both Museum professionals and local government councillors and how the Museum has affected, and been affected by, issues of gender are discussed. The impact of inward migration to the United Kingdom and specifically to Leicester is also discussed, with the impact of new communities on both the display of material from the Museum’s collection, and the exhibitions that the Museum mounts being considered in some detail. The essentially reactive role of the Museum when confronted with large-scale social change is identified and explained.
