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INTRODUCTION
For
the past six years, the Bloody Sunday Trust has been working
towards the creation of a museum and archive focussing on one
of the most important periods in the history of this city –
the civil rights era of the 1960s and the Free Derry/early troubles
era of the 1970s. We intend to open the first phase of this
museum – the Museum of Free Derry – in Summer 2006.
(A temporary Bloody Sunday Centre will be open in Glenfada Park
until the museum opens.) The archive will be known as the National
Civil Rights Archive.
For
the purposes of the museum, a loose definition of Free Derry
has been used, and the term is used to describe the area covering
the Bogside, Brandywell, Creggan, Bishop Street and Foyle Road,
an area roughly equivalent to the old, gerrymandered South Ward.
Phase
One of the Museum of Free Derry will cover the following areas:
| • |
The
history of the Free Derry area -– the Bogside, Brandywell,
Bishop Street and Creggan. |
| • |
Stormont,
the Corporation and the South Ward, 1920s -– 1960s,
creating the conditions for conflict. |
| • |
The
revitalisation of local community spirit and self-help
in the mid-1960s. |
• |
Onto
the Streets -– October 1968 to July 1969. |
• |
Battle
of the Bogside. |
| • |
Internment
and Free Derry. |
| • |
Bloody
Sunday. |
| • |
Motorman
and the invasion of Free Derry. |
As
the museum develops, this narrative will be expanded to cover
events right up to the present day.
The
Museum of Free Derry will tell this part of the city’s
history from the point of view of the people who lived through,
and were most affected by, these events: it will be the community’s
story told from the community’s perspective, not the distorted
version parroted by the government and most of the media over
the years. We believe it is vital that all those involved in
the events of the last almost 40 years take the opportunity
to tell their own stories in a subjective but honest way as
a first step towards a greater understanding of all the elements
that led to the most recent phase of the conflict in Ireland.
This is not something that can be achieved through attempting
to give a single ‘official’ version of events.
The
museum currently has an archive of over 25,000 individual items
relating to this part of the city’s history. Virtually
all of these items have been donated to the museum by local
residents, and include some items of immense historical importance.
Without this support from the local community this museum would
not have been possible.
The
Museum of Free Derry/National Civil Rights Archive will be:
| • |
An
expression of local identity and experience; |
| • |
A
means of education and information on an era that had,
and continues to have, major local, national and international
significance; |
| • |
A
means to preserve artefacts and documentation from this
era for this and future generations, and to make them
available for study and research; |
| • |
A
contribution to the local economy, which is still suffering
from the effects of this turbulent period. |
Once
open, the Museum of Free Derry will be managed as a social economy
initiative. All income generated by the museum will go towards
sustaining and developing the museum and securing long term
jobs for its employees. The museum will not just be an collection
of artifacts and documents, but will be an active part of the
local community, and will expand its activities outside the
confines of the building.
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