The Collections

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery has been actively collecting since 1897. Our fantastic collections have grown due to the generosity of generations of Plymothians who have donated objects. The Museum preserves and displays these collections for the enjoyment of the city’s residents and visitors.

Collecting objects

We continue to add to the collections today and welcome donations. We also purchase items important to Plymouth heritage. This work is dependent on the continued support of generous donors, the Friends of the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery and national grant-giving bodies.

You can find out more about some of our new acquisitions, including a new craft piece acquired through 'Art Fund Collect'.

For further details on our current collecting priorities, please read our Collections Policy below.

Collections Policy [52KB]

Acquisitions Policy [496KB]

Collecting information

We are keen to add to the information and knowledge we have about the collections and the history of the city. If you know something about objects in our galleries or one of our collections online, please get in touch.

Museum staff and visitors also research the collections and publish information about them in a number of ways. For more detailed information about the collections visit the following pages:

• Archaeology
• Maritime and city heritage
• Fine art
• Decorative art
• Natural history
• Social history
• World cultures

Volunteer for us!

There are lots of ways you can help with our collections work, from cataloguing photographs to the conservation of 'pickled' sea creatures. To find out more visit our volunteers page for current volunteer opportunities.

Use of Collections

Our collections form the basis for study and research by school children, students, personal and professional researchers, fellow curators and specialists from the region and beyond. They also provide enjoyment and inspiration for museum visitors.

Like most large collections the museum displays a proportion of its artefacts in the public spaces, both as long-running exhibitions and themed, temporary exhibitions.

Loans policy

We receive 'loans in' from the collections of other institutions and individuals, where they will promote access and increase knowledge and understanding. We undertake to provide at least the same care for borrowed objects as if they were part of the permanent collections. The assumption is against long-term 'loans in' (except where these are accepted as key items for display in long-life galleries).

We lend out artefacts from our collections to promote access, increase knowledge and understanding and to support other museums.

We endeavour to adopt a flexible and pragmatic approach to 'loans out' whilst ensuring that objects are not subject to unnecessary risks and in-house programming is not compromised.

For the full Policy Statement and information on how to borrow objects, please see the standard conditions for loans out document below.

Standard conditions for loans out [140KB]