If heaven on Earth were a place, it would probably be in the old Butter Exchange
“This world deserved to be tasted, greedily”
-Asako Yuzuki, Butter
A stone’s throw away from Cork’s city center (and, conveniently, also a stone’s throw away from my house) exists one of the greatest museums on Earth: The Butter Museum.
I love butter.
I live in two butter-loving places (the US South, and in Ireland), so it’s hardly surprising that a rite of passage for me in settling into my new Irish home was visiting the Butter Museum (followed by the nearby and also iconic Shandon Bells).
But the visit was about more than just learning about a cool subject. I wanted to understand the place I live more deeply: To get a sense of the history of everyday life (not just of big touchstone events) as part of calling a new-to-me city and country home.
First things first, the museum is 100% worth a visit (I talk more about what stood out to me as a cultural heritage professional below).
The Butter Museum is (surprise!) a museum about the history of butter, but more specifically, about the history of the butter industry in Cork and around Ireland, and how the butter industry has shaped Cork, and vice versa.
It’s housed in a historic building, The Butter Exchange, where butter was bought and sold in one place so that the industry could be better regulated, and it outlines the story of the butter industry in Ireland, including key moments (like the opening of the Exchange) and the current landscape.
They do a fantastic job of not just giving an overview of the industry itself, but also teasing out some of the magic of everyday history and placing it front and center:
Highlighting the stories and uses of crocks and firkins (quarter barrels), for example, or how butter moved in and out of the city, or using butter wrappers to understand the story of Irish butter.
But for me (and, I think, for other Corkonians too) the Butter Museum isn’t just a cool museum about an interesting subject.
It’s a source of local pride (or at least, a source of local pride for many of the folks I talk with).
I also get a sense that it’s a trusted institution: One people point to regularly when discussing the city’s cultural heritage or looking for examples of who is doing this work right. As someone who maintains a foot in the world of cultural heritage (and is a former museum curator myself) I love to see when a museum becomes an identity marker for the community/ies it represents.
This trust doesn’t exist with every museum, but when it does, it can offer us lessons as cultural heritage workers (and in the case of food-adjacent museums, food historians) about what ‘doing it right’ might look like.
So what does the Butter Museum get right?
It’s situated in a historic district (Shandon) that contains some of the most iconic buildings in the city (you can see more in this virtual walking tour, this overview of some of the important buildings, and this more in-depth neighborhood overview), and while its focus is on the butter and the building, it also makes mention of how this building relates to the larger district’s story.
In other words, the curators don’t try to frame the story of the museum, and the story of Irish butter, in a way that makes them artificially exist in isolation. It recognizes the complex interconnection of local and regional history in telling the story of Irish butter.
The Butter Museum also considers this story in connection with larger social and cultural histories. Granted, many museums also do this, but I find some subject-specific museums often gloss over larger contexts or disregard them entirely. The Butter Museum strikes a pretty good balance, contextualizing Irish butter’s history without getting too far in the weeds.
Connected to the above: History does not just remain in the past. It’s interwoven with the story of Cork today, and with contemporary issues. This is, to me, absolutely critical when we’re talking about and teaching history. If our visitors/readers/etc. don’t see themselves in the history we’re telling in some way, they’re unlikely to care or keep engaging with it.
It’s engaging, without feeling like it’s forcing engagement. I love a good interactive museum display. But they can sometimes feel forced, or like they’re using new technology just for technology’s sake. The Butter Museum has digital displays a multimedia, but I also appreciate that the interactive parts feel approachable and fun (like stamping your own butter wrapper), rather than like yet another complicated digital menu to navigate.
What digital elements they do use (like these 3D models of historic objects on their website) feel intentional and well-done, rather than like an afterthought. I’ve been in the room when museum leadership has said ‘we need more technology in this exhibit to remain relevant or draw in more visitors’ and the resulting exhibits often feel ‘off’ in some way. That’s not what happens here: They choose, and use, their tech with care.
Multiple modes of sharing information. I appreciate that many modern museums do a good job of educating visitors using different formats, tools, writing styles, etc. rather than just sticking to dense text next to objects in cases (though I appreciate that, too). The Butter Museum is no exception: There are objects in cases with useful interpretive labels, but there are also timelines, graphics, dioramas, etc.
They have a bog butter. This is, to me, the most beautiful crowning achievement of any museum, ever. A bog butter! That you can look at! It’s right there!
Longtime readers will be aware of my obsession with bog butter. Being able to be in the same room, or even the same building, as a bog butter is my personal heaven.
(This last point is foreshadowing to next week’s issue, by the way, where I’ll be talking more about bog butter. I may even share a short story I wrote about bog butter, but I haven’t decided yet).
Have you been to the Butter Museum? What did you think?
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