Name/TitleFlag: National Museum of Roller Derby
About this objectFlag or banner with thick white cord: black background with red and white NMRD Jammer helmet logo and 'National Museum of Roller Derby' in white block lettering.
MakerHarrison, Ellie
Maker RoleArtist
Date Made2012
Period2010s
Place MadeScotland, Glasgow
Medium and MaterialsOrganic, textile
MeasurementsH:890 x W: 1420 mm
Subject and Association Keywordssport - roller derby
Subject and Association Keywords21 Revolutions
Subject and Association DescriptionPart of 21 Revolutions project:
https://womenslibrary.org.uk/discover-our-projects/21-revolutions
Ellie chose to use the invitation to contribute to GWL’s anniversary project as an opportunity to undertake an informal residency at the Library and to develop her knowledge and understanding of women’s history – specifically the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1970s.
Rather than produce an ‘edition’ to be sold to raise funds for the Library, Ellie chose to develop an ‘outreach’ project; an experiment in audience development. On 1 June 2012 “The National Museum of Roller Derby” was launched, with the aim of bringing a whole new, strong and revolutionary young audience to the Library, by using it as the home for the UK’s first official archive of the new and exciting all-female, full-contact sport of Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby (WFTDA).
Working closing alongside the Glasgow Roller Derby league (with whom she is currently training), Ellie hopes to use this project to examine the essence of contemporary grassroots organisation captured in WFTDA mantra “by the skaters, for the skaters”. In this Olympic year, she aims to test the political limits of sport by brokering a lasting partnership between Roller Girls all over the country and the important shared heritage contained within the Library’s archive, to see what might emerge. At a time when the UK’s women are being disproportionately affected by so-called ‘austerity measures’, which may eventually risk reversing the important gains made in the 1970s, it is now, more than ever, vital that we remind ourselves of our successes in the past and work out how we can best work together in the present.
The National Museum of Roller Derby launched at GWL in June 2012: https://womenslibrary.org.uk/explore-the-library-and-archive/the-museum-collection/nmrd
Named CollectionNMRD @ Glasgow Women's Library
Object TypeFlag
Object numberGWL-2015-49-21-1
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved