Objects of war: the response of the Imperial War Museum, London, to the First and the Second World Wars

This paper analyses the interpretation and treatment of material culture by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) following the First and the Second World Wars. It finds that in the inter-war years the IWM presented its collection within a framework of hybrid value based on the material link between the objects of war and the events from which they originated. However, following the Second World War a different system of value was enacted. The authorities in this period steered collecting towards models and dioramas as a means of placing greater emphasis on the institution's informative role.