Most history museums collect and display some kind of technology artefacts. These may be in dedicated technology collections or as part of other collections. However, most museums are not defined as museums of science, technology or industry. In this paper I will explore the different ways in which technology is displayed in museums with a different focus. I will also explore why some museums with technology-centred collections, such as transport museums, do not identify as technological museums.

Using shipbuilding as an example, I will look at how maritime history museums and museums of science, technology and industry differ in their approaches. Shipbuilding is often portrayed in museums by displaying hand tools in a glass case. I will explore the different interpretations different types of museums offer on rather similar artefacts and displays, and suggest possible reasons to the similarities and differences between display styles. Do maritime museums see shipbuilding as a means to an end and technology museums as significant in itself, for example? I will also suggest that displaying hand tools or machinery does not, in fact, portray shipbuilding, but simply the tools of the trade. I will show examples of a different approach to displaying an aspect of shipbuilding that considers the ideas and reasoning behind early 19th century changes in Naval Dockyards.