The emphasis in treatments of the use of multimedia in scholarship has been on the value for research. Drawing on the experience of the Science Museum in London, this paper will argue that there is also a serious scholarly challenge in its application in such a way as to use fully the communicative power of the medium. The challenge of combining education and pleasure through the integration of multiple media is a serious opportunity for historians as well as for designers who have hitherto been allowed to take the lead in this genre.