A PLAN to help address “problematic” displays and encourage greater diversity at museums in Colchester has been agreed.

The joint Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service, which runs Colchester Castle, Hollytrees Museum and the National History Museum, has published a plan for 2021-27, linked to a project to revamp Ipswich Museum.

The document, approved unanimously by the joint museums committee of Colchester and Ipswich borough councils, said some displays at Ipswich Museum are “problematic, with certain artefacts of questionable provenance”.

It added: “The documentation of much of the world cultures collection, collected predominantly in the 19th century, is superficial and needs urgent remedial investigation.”

Read more >> Museums to 'decolonise' collections in review of 'problematic' displays

It has also been acknowledged that “whilst the museum has an array of world objects, its current ethnic visitor profile does not reflect that of the local, diverse demographic”.

Work under the plan will see new research with indigenous sources and previously excluded stories, and re-examining how the museum came by some of its artefacts and being transparent with visitors of how they were acquired.

The strategy applies to Colchester Castle, Colchester’s Hollytrees Museum and the Natural History Museum, Ipswich Art Gallery and Christchurch Mansion.

Frank Hargrave, Colchester and Ipswich Museums manager, recognised it was a tricky subject, but said it is a strategy of “better engagement and improving diversity”.

He said: “It’s not about being unnecessarily provocative, it’s about finding long-term solutions and working with people to find solutions without being tokenistic or overly antagonistic.”

It was “not about taking stories away or hiding things, very much the opposite”.

Among some of the areas considered most problematic are holdings of human remains and religious artefacts, as well as those acquired by those with imperial agendas of their time, such as colonial officers, expedition captains and missionaries.

The moves comes as a wider national debate on the celebration of colonial era figures takes place and follows the toppling of Bristol’s statue of slave trader Edward Colston.