Controversial blackface memorabilia to form part of new museum collection

Bought by Blackpool Council as part of a private collection, the new Showtown museum collection includes a photograph and flyer from the 1920s showing the offensive practice of 'blacking up'.

Showtown

First published on 12 September, 2024

A collection of items acquired for Blackpool’s new Showtown museum contains blackface memorabilia, The Blackpool Lead can reveal.

Staff at the museum, which opened in Bank Hey Street in March, have so far found two such examples out of hundreds of historical items bought from an unnamed, private collector.

They…