CSR at the Museum: Strategical Public History and the Invention of Societal Relevance at the Danish Maritime Museum

In this article, I describe how the creation of the Danish maritime museums in 1915 and in 2013—both generously funded by maritime foundations and actors—were perceived by the shipping industry as initiatives that would help market the industry vis-à-vis the broader population. I argue more generally that public museums, such as national maritime museums, constitute narrative focal points for disseminating legitimizing narratives, which potentially situate entire industries and businesses in a larger cultural framework and contribute to making these industries relevant in contemporary public discourse. I label such initiatives ‘strategical public history’, and I call for increased focus by scholars and practitioners on the different alternatives sites for the production of history that has hitherto not been captured by analyses of rhetorical history.