We care for over 2.5 million historic objects, from working steam engines to fragile ancient artefacts. Our collections tell the stories of the people who lived in Hampshire thousands of years ago to the present day. We welcome researchers to use our collections helping us reveal new insights, and support interesting and fascinating exhibitions in our venues for everyone to enjoy.

Objects from our collections are on display in our museums across the county. We also make the collection housed in our museum stores accessible by appointment. Our online database shows a selection of objects, some of which aren’t ordinarily on permanent display.

 

Research Enquiries

We try to process enquiries as quickly as we can but please allow 2 weeks for a response

When making an application to view objects in the collections please provide as much information as possible. Information that will help us includes:

  • find spot
  • accession number (if known)
  • references to publications you have seen the object/site in
  • if the objects you wish to see are from an archaeological site, information such as
    • context numbers
    • small find numbers
    • excavating organisation
    • year of discovery
  • if objects are known to be on display please provide the name of our museum where it is displayed
  • if your enquiry is about a known family deposit in the past please provide name of depositor and date, even if only approximate 

For large research enquiries that have funding we do charge bench fees. Please contact us early on in your research so as you can incorporate our current fees into into your funding application. This does not apply to self-funded research.