Liverpool’s Maritime Museum is seeking Titanic stories from local families as it refreshes its permanent gallery during a major refurbishment project.
Curators at Liverpool’s Maritime Museum are inviting people from the city region to share family connections and stories linked to RMS Titanic as part of the museum’s redevelopment, ahead of the anniversary of the ship’s sinking on 15 April 1912.
The exhibition ‘Titanic and Liverpool: The Untold Story’ opened in 2012 to mark the centenary of the sinking and became a permanent gallery. With the museum now closed for refurbishment, curators are working to refresh the displays and uncover additional stories from Liverpool families and communities.
Rebecca Smith, Maritime Museum Curator, said the museum “would love to hear from local people who can help us build an even stronger sense of the ship’s relationship with Liverpool and convey how its tragic story impacted the city and its people.”
The exhibition includes a letter written by May Louise McMurray on 13 April 1912 to her father William McMurray, a Titanic crew member. The letter, addressed from May’s Liverpool home to her father’s lodgings in Southampton, arrived after the ship had departed and was returned to the family when William did not survive the sinking.
The letter inspired ‘Sea Odyssey’, a three-day outdoor art performance featuring giant marionettes that was attended by more than half a million people in 2012.
Smith said: “The enchanting ‘Sea Odyssey’ is a powerful example of how an object as simple as a child’s handwritten letter, provides deeper understanding and empathy towards a moment in time. It would be wonderful to uncover something similarly evocative and bring new insight into Liverpool’s role in the global story of Titanic when we reopen the gallery.”
Liverpool’s Maritime Museum and International Slavery Museum closed to the public for a major redevelopment project in January 2025, with both museums expected to reopen in 2029.
A first-class passenger ticket belonging to Reverend Stuart Holden from the Maritime Museum’s collection is currently on display in the World Museum exhibition, National Museums Liverpool at 40.
