A mobile museum is a museum educational outreach program that takes the museum to the
people as opposed to a situation where people visit museums. It bridges the gaps between
communities, allowing the value of museums to be disseminated across a wide area so that
there are no obstacles for people hoping to see its collection. Typically, mobile museums can
be in recreational vehicles, trucks or trailers that drive to the targeted audience. With a
museum on the wheel, history becomes a journey that everyone can embark on. Museum
collections have to be made accessible not only to tourists but also to the large numbers of
people who live in outlying areas and for one reason or the other are unable to visit a
museum. Mobile museums with their inherent flexibility and adaptability are reshaping the
landscape of museum engagement and breaking the barriers of accessibility. Mobile museums
ensure that people from all walks of life experience the wonder of museums and connect with
their heritage. Sevcuk (2018) applauds mobile museums for their ability to breakdown
geographic barriers, traversing long distances to bring the treasures of culture, history and art
right to the doorsteps of marginalized communities.
In Zimbabwe, all museums except for the Great Zimbabwe museum are in urban centres. For
communities facing socio-economic challenges or those with limited mobility, visiting the
museum may seem like an unattainable dream. As such, the planned mobile museum will
afford the Mwenezi community members the opportunity to engage with cultural objects,
seek out more information about material culture and delve deeper into their history.
Further reading
Daifuku, H. 1965. An experimental mobile museum for Tropical Africa. Museum
International, 18 (3), pp 126-129.
Driver, F; Nesbitt, M and Cornish, C. 2021. Mobile Museums: Collections in circulation.
London: University London College Press.
Sevcuk, V.A. 2018. Travelling exhibitions and mobile museums. Museum International, 19
(3), pp156-159.
TravelTube. 2023. The rise of mobile museums in Africa.
Mobile Museums- The future of museums? https://artisticconnector.com/mobile-museums
