Donate

All donations are considered in the light of the museum’s established collecting areas, their provenance, story and condition.

Museums are not able to accept material which has been acquired illegally or unethically, for example from protected shipwrecks or archaeological sites.

Please do not drop off donations to the museum without prior arrangement with our collection team. This will ensure the proper cataloguing and storing process can take place.

If you are interested in donating, please provide the following information to our Collections Team

• Description of the object(s) and measurements
• How you came to own the object
• Any known history about it
• Condition of the object(s)
• Photographs of the object(s)

We do not have space or resources to display all the items in our collection, and some are too fragile for long-term display. However, we strive to make our collection as accessible as possible, for example via our Online Collection database, or by research request.

If you would like to view items in our collection, please contact the Collections Team at least 14 days in advance.

Once an acquisition proposal is accepted by the Acquisitions Committee, arrangements are made to transfer the object(s) into the long-term care of the museum.

The object(s) are accessioned, and then enter a period of quarantine to check or suspend potential biological hazards such as mould or pests. After quarantine the object is catalogued and entered into the museum’s database. New packing, fixings, crating or boxing may then occur before the object is placed in storage.

Information provided by the donor is the crucial first step in adding information about the object. The museum will record known information about the object including provenance (or chain of custody). Over time museum staff can add more information to the object from research but we also appreciate contributions via our collections online portal.

Our database can record location moves throughout the museum and our storage facilities. The accession number and database system identification in conjunction with building, room, and shelf labels are key identifiers to locate objects across the museum.

The museum represents a broad selection of the collections online but only a portion of our large collection is online. Copyright or privacy considerations may defer inclusion online.

The museum does not do appraisals or valuations. If you have something you would like valued please contact an auction house or valuer.

The museum prefers not to accept items on long-term loan. However, we do sometimes borrow items on short-term loan for exhibitions. If you’re not sure, please get in touch to discuss further.