A woman carefully snipping while another woman watches.

Collection Management

Collection Management is responsible for the care, storage, and display of the Museum collection.

We ensure best practice is maintained while handling, moving, and presenting the collection. We work across the many fundamental and diverse areas of collection management, including:

Enabling the development of the collection through acquisitions
Facilitating research via the Museum's study room service
Displaying objects across our busy loans and exhibitions programme

We're also responsible for the inventory of the Museum's collection on the MI+ collection management system.

Our work

The Care and Access team is focused on the day-to-day care of the collection and is responsible for departmental study rooms, permanent galleries, and collection stores across all Museum sites. The team:

Facilitates gallery maintenance across all onsite permanent galleries
Provides access to the Museum collection for study
Facilitates Museum research across curatorial projects, conservation and scientific research
Maintains and improves object storage across all Museum sites
Facilitates movement of the collection for commercial, conservation and scientific purposes
Responds to reported gallery issues and incidents
Supports the acquisition of new objects and maintains collection documentation

About the team
Care and Access is led by the Senior Collection Manager: Care and Access and has eight Collection Managers and 28 Assistant Collection Managers.

The Loans and Display team is focused on the public programme of temporary exhibitions at the Museum as well as the Museum's busy loans programme. The team is responsible for the mounting, preparation, and installation of the collection at the Museum, at borrowing venues across the UK and internationally. The team:

Organises and schedules the practical installation of objects for all exhibition and loan projects
Advises on best practice for packing, transport and display of Museum collection items
Plans and creates bespoke packing solutions for travel crates
Creates bespoke mounts for objects
Couriers and installs objects at the Museum and at borrowing UK and international venues
Documents the condition of objects before, during and after transport

About the team
Loans and Display is led by the Senior Collection Manager: Loans and Display who oversees six Collection Managers and 19 Assistant Collection Managers, including the teams that specialise in heavy objects, framed works and textiles. The Collection Manager and Assistant Collection Manager: Textiles are responsible for the textile collections housed at Blythe House.

The Collection and Documentation team is responsible for maintaining and coordinating the Museum's extensive long-term loan and acquisitions activity and supporting the Treasure process. It also ensures inventory standards, safeguarding data integrity and the documentation of all aspects of collection management. The team:

Creates systems and improves and maintains collection records for all Museum objects
Coordinates and supports the collection management aspects of the Treasure process
Runs collection audits, including the management of MI+ data
Trains and supports colleagues in relevant processes, including MI+

About the team
Collection and Documentation is led by the Registrar: Collection and Documentation who is supported by the Inventory Manager, a Project Coordinator and two Collection Coordinators.

Loans and Exhibitions is the team responsible for the delivery of the logistics aspects of the Museum's national and international loans, and the Museum exhibitions programme. Loans and Exhibitions coordinate the world's most generous outward loans programme, lending 5,248 objects to 240 venues in the UK and internationally in 2018/2019.

For information on the loans process please visit the How to borrow page.

About the team
Loans and Exhibitions is led by the Registrar: Loans and Exhibitions who is supported by seven Project Coordinators and five Loans Coordinators.