International Journal of History

Author(s): Heena Dhariwal

Abstract: Provincial museums in post-1947 India occupy a pivotal yet understudied position in the afterlife of empire. Inheriting colonial memorial landscapes, buildings, and collections, these institutions became key sites where commemorative meanings were renegotiated for new publics. This study examines how provincial museums reframed colonial memorials from 1947 to 2025, focusing on curatorial strategies such as relabeling, gallery re-sequencing, emphasis on regional heroes and vernacular traditions, incorporation of subaltern/community narratives, and the selective retention of colonial aesthetics. Using a qualitative historical-comparative design, nine provincial/state museums were purposively sampled based on their inheritance of colonial memorial complexes and post-Independence curatorial interventions. Data comprised on-site exhibition analysis, archival documentation (catalogues, accession registers, annual reports, and policy circulars), and secondary scholarship in museology, heritage governance, and memory studies. Content coding of 76 memorial-linked exhibits revealed that most museums undertook explicit nationalist or regional reinterpretations, with relabeling and narrative restructuring especially prominent, while colonial architectural and classificatory residues persisted across all sites. Decadal analysis showed a progressive decline in overtly imperial memorial language and a marked expansion of postcolonial framings after the 1970s, intensifying further in the 2000s and 2010s. Cross-regional comparison indicated statistically meaningful variation: North and East Indian museums more often foregrounded integrative freedom-struggle scripts, whereas West and South sites leaned toward vernacular-plural or community-centered interpretations. The study concludes that provincial museums have acted as active postcolonial agents, transforming colonial memorials into layered, hybrid regimes of public memory where decolonizing narratives coexist with material legacies of empire. These findings underscore the importance of decentralized museum practice in shaping India’s evolving heritage politics and public historical consciousness.

DOI: 10.22271/27069109.2025.v7.i11b.574

Pages: 127-133 | Views: 99 | Downloads: 58

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