Session guide

Collections Management: Documentation

The Museum’s collection of more than 8 million objects spans the history of the world from Prehistoric times until the present day. The British Museum’s collection database offers unparalleled access to objects in the collection.

The database is an inventory of the Museum’s collection and aims to record what is known about it. It is primarily designed to support curatorial and research work, and much of the text is specialised in nature and terminology.

Collections Management: Storage

Storage, documentation and access to the collection are key aspects of the Museum’s role.

The Collections Care department manage Museum-wide storage projects, including the collection moves linked to the building of the World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre (WCEC). 

Libraries

The Museum’s collection is available to researchers of all different levels through its galleries, libraries and study rooms, as well as online.

The British Museum contains several libraries which vary in size, content and readership and catalogues for all of the Museum’s libraries can be searched online.

Archives

The Museum’s Central Archive largely relates to the administrative records of the Museum and includes Trustees’ records and minutes of meetings, Principal Librarian records and correspondence, departmental reports, gallery and exhibition records, excavation records, photographs, deeds and plans and other papers and documents which relate to the Museum and its building, going back to the 1740s.

The Museum is in the process of cataloguing this large and diverse collection as well as advising other departments how to manage and catalogue their archival collections. We are working towards producing an online archive catalogue of the Museum’s archive collections.

You can find your complete Session Guidelines for Collections Management in the ‘Materials’ section at the top of this module.