Bringing the people back in Lars K. Christensen, PhD In May 2009, a new museum was opened to the public in a former textile mill at Brede, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The museum, which is part of the Danish National Museum, is called “Brede Works – museum of industrial culture”. The aim of the museum is to give the audience an understanding of how industrialization have radically changed the way we live, work, think and interact with each other during the last 150 years . That is why we have deliberately chosen to call it a museum of industrial culture, not an industrial museum. One part of the museum, called “The Factory”, presents the topic of industrial work life, using the textile industry as an example. Unfortunately, no machinery was left from the original mill. However, we have been able to collect a number of machines from other sources. Thus, we are able to present some of the key elements of cloth production – carding, spinning, weaving, napping, etc. ‐ through objects. Furthermore, we have recreated a meeting‐room for the board, a supervisor’s office and a small canteen. A part of the exhibition hall A story about people But objects do not speak for themselves. And the story we wanted to tell the audience was in fact not as much about the machines, as it was about all that what had been going on around the machines – between the people working there.