Offers of gifts and Museum procedures
It is through generous offers from individual contributors that our collections continue to grow as a public resource. We are always interested to hear more about any object you wish to donate to the Museum but for reasons of security and public accountability, we have a procedure in place to deal with such matters.
Donation offer form
Download and complete the form below or e-mail registration@rmg.co.uk. Remember to include your contact details and provide as much detail as possible about the object, including any images.
- Download the form (PDF, 128KB)
The information will be passed on to the relevant Museum department for consideration. They will contact you for any further information that we may need and tell you more about the procedure we use in deciding whether to accept to your generous offer.
How acquisition decisions are made
As you may imagine, we cannot accept all items offered to us. Every potential acquisition needs to fit into the published themes of our collecting plan and is discussed by a special monthly Collection Development Committee to ensure it does so. Detailed information about the object and a photograph are usually sufficient for the committee to make its decision.
We may be unable to accept your kind offer for a variety of reasons. Frequently we already have examples of items offered and would not wish to duplicate these. Some objects may be more appropriate to another museum, in which case we will try to give you the names and contact details of museums that may be interested. In other cases we may be unable to accept items which are in very poor condition or which will occupy a large amount of space.
We have prepared some useful further information about donating an object to the Museum (both Word documents):
- FAQs for people who wish to donate to the Museum (31KB)
- How the Museum collects objects: Guidance for potential donors and vendors (46KB)
Use of objects and collections following acquisition
When the Museum formally acquires new objects for its collections, these additions are made accessible to the public in one or all of the following ways:
- placed on display in one of the three Museum sites in Greenwich
- lent for exhibition in other museums at home and abroad
- used in our education and publication programmes
- made available for research purposes (subject to practicalities at the time)
- digitized and made available online through our websites
Our holdings provide a rich and fascinating resource and form the foundation of our own temporary exhibitions and long-term displays. Examples are available on our exhibitions, galleries and past exhibitions pages.
Our Education department run a diverse range of programmes and events for schools and families and provide for adult learners. We also run community-based projects which involve all age groups. Visit the schools' pages to find out more about the Museum's education provision.
We have an ongoing digitization strategy to make our collections available online. Along with the main Museum website, we have a number of specialised sites that form part of this strategy. See: