Peopleʼs History Museum

The origins of the museum lie in the 1960s when a group of pioneer activists began to collect labour history material at a time when the museum world was largely uninterested.  They believed strongly in the importance of collecting and preserving items belonging to working people.  They opened the National Museum of Labour History in London in 1975.

In the 1980s, with the museum’s future threatened by a lack of funding, the collection was rescued by Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester authorities, with the help of the TUC.  Local champions who believed in the importance of the collection fought for the museum to come to Manchester and the museum reopened on Princess Street in 1990 in the building where the first meeting of the TUC took place over one hundred years earlier.

Interest in the museum continued to grow and the collection continued to expand.  The museum needed larger premises and a second site was opened at the Pump House in 1994 with public galleries, exhibition spaces, learning programmes and events for an interested and engaged audience.

There was still more to do and the museum had an ambitious plan to expand even further, to bring all museum activities, operations and staff onto one site and to create a landmark building to fully reflect the unique and special story it told of the development of democracy in Britain.

The museum successfully secured an investment of £12.5 million from local, regional and national partners to achieve this vision.  In 2010 the museum re-launched itself again with a restored Pump House and a new modern four storey extension, attached to the original building by a glass walkway and clad in a striking, rusty exterior of Corten steel.

Since 2010 the museum has attracted national and international press coverage, is embedded as a key cultural attraction in Greater Manchester, has achieved annual visitor numbers of over 100,000 and welcomes an audience of both local residents and national and international visitors.

Structure
The People’s History Museum is a charity and is a company limited by guarantee with a maximum of 20 trustees.  It is independent and has no political affiliation.