The Mixed Museum: a model of good practice in the heritage sector
Over the past few years, three leading UK heritage organisations and funders have used our work as examples of good practice in the museum and archives sector. Three projects connected to The Mixed Museum (TMM) – Reclaiming History Through Science, SussedBlackWoman and Connected Heritage – have been featured by the Museums Association (MA), the Association of Independent Museums (AIM), and The National Archives (TNA) for their approach to inclusion, participation and storytelling. Find out more below, along with how we’re building on this work as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Digital Good programme.
TMM's SussedBlackWoman exhibition, selected by the Association of Independent Museums as one of the case studies for the New Stories, New Audiences programme.
CASE STUDY 1: Reclaiming History Through Science
Featured by: Museums Association
Programme: Mindsets + Missions
Funders: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the Museums Association (MA)
Led by the Museums Association (MA) from March to April 2023, the Mindsets + Missions programme was dedicated to making cultural and civic engagement possible for everyone through co-development and participatory practice. The 12 projects funded included TMM’s Reclaiming History Through Science: DNA testing in the lives of ‘brown babies’ families.
The nine-month project built on a longstanding collaboration between the museum and Professor Lucy Bland, author of Britain’s Brown Babies, and brought together over 30 ‘brown babies’ and their descendants from across the world to work collaboratively to explore the way DNA testing had allowed them to understand their own lives and make new connections. It included online and in-person meets-up, and for many participants, was the first time they had met others with similar histories to theirs.
At the end of the project, TMM’s was included by the MA as one of the programme’s four filmed case studies, highlighting our project team’s work to connect underrepresented communities with science. Although funding has ended, the museum continues to support the group with monthly online ‘drop-ins’ and a monthly newsletter, along with pursuing new funding opportunities to build on the existing work.
Mindsets + Missions was funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and delivered by Museums Association in partnership with The Liminal Space and the Association for Science and Discovery Centres.
CASE STUDY 2: SussedBlackWoman
Featured by: Association of Independent Museums
Programme: New Stories, New Audiences
Funder: National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) through Association of Independent Museums (AIM)
In 2023, the Association of Independent Museums (AIM) funded TMM’s SussedBlackWoman project as part of its New Stories, New Audiences (NSNA) programme. The NSNA programme, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) and managed by AIM, offered grants of up to £15,000 to smaller museums to tell new stories, work with new partners, and reach new audiences.
As part of the programme, the SussedBlackWoman project created a whole new digital resource dedicated to the life and work of SuAndi. TMM worked directly with the Manchester-based poet, writer and arts practitioner and consulted pupils across the north west of England to ensure that the exhibition was relevant to a younger audience, particularly those now studying SuAndi’s book The Story of M, which is an A Level English Literature text.
The project allowed SuAndi to explore her personal archive and tell her story in her own words. The digital resource, which went live in July 2024, is designed to help students and teachers studying her work to understand the historical and social context of racial mixing in the north west. Additional funding allowed an audio version of the entire exhibition, voiced by SuAndi, to be added later. SuAndi became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded the Benson Medal for outstanding contributions to literature in 2024.
TMM's SussedBlackWoman project was selected by AIM as one of several case studies from across the NSNA programme. In 2025, TMM's Director, Dr Chamion Caballero, joined Catrin Salvatore on AIM's podcast to discuss insights from the project including reflections on working collaboratively with external partners.
CASE STUDY 3: Connected Heritage
Featured by: The National Archives (TNA)
Project: Connected Heritage partnership with Wikimedia
Funder: Wikimedia, Queen Mary University of London and The Mixed Museum (TMM)
The National Archives (TNA) included TMM within its inclusion resources for archive services and heritage organisations, which highlights work connected to community engagement, representation and archival practice. It showcases TMM’s Connected Heritage partnership with Wikimedia, which saw the museum run Wiki internships to redress the racial and gender imbalance among Wiki editors and content. This was done by upskilling young editors to research and add Wiki content on underrepresented individuals and groups, as well as providing the editors with experience of working in a digital heritage organisation.
The vast majority of English language Wiki editors are men, mostly from the Global North, which means that Wiki content is skewed in favour of these histories. TMM ran two one-month internships for students from Queen Mary University of London in 2022 and 2023. Using material from our collections, they played an important role in diversifying Wiki content and bringing new audiences to the museum, helping to improve public knowledge about the history of racial mixing in Britain.
Making mixed race British histories more visible: continuing good practice
Although each case study project focuses on a different area, together they reflect a core aim of TMM, to make overlooked mixed race British histories more visible, while working collaboratively with the communities connected to them.
For an independent digital-first organisation operating without core funding, this recognition demonstrates that TMM’s approach — combining community collaboration, digital engagement, archival research and underrepresented histories — is increasingly being recognised across the heritage sector as a valuable and replicable model of practice.
This growing recognition of TMM’s work across the heritage sector also comes at a time when the organisation is contributing to wider conversations about the future of digital heritage. TMM Director Dr Chamion Caballero is currently Co-Principal Investigator alongside Professor Daniel McNeil (University of Birmingham) on the ESRC Digital Good Network-funded project Digital-first museums and community-hosted heritage initiatives in a good digital society.
Working together with Professor Dhiraj Murthy (University of Texas at Austin) and PhD researcher Kennya Souza (University of Birmingham), the team will develop a blueprint for digital-first museums and community-hosted heritage initiatives, with TMM’s case study work helping to inform wider thinking around digital participation, community collaboration and inclusive heritage practice.
Learn more
Watch The Mixed Museum’s Reclaiming History Through Science case study (Museums Association - scroll down)
Listen to The Mixed Museum’s Director, Dr Chamion Caballero, discuss New Stories New Audiences’ SussedBlackWoman case study (Association of Independent Museums - scroll down)
Read The Mixed Museum’s Wiki-editing internships case study (The National Archives - scroll down)