Discover the National Mining Museum Scotland’s diverse collection of objects, machinery, archival documents, books, photographs, maps, plans, and more with these Object Highlight posts.
The National Mining Museum Scotland has over 137,000 items in our collection representing the social, technical, environmental, and economic history of Scotland’s coal mining industry.
The collection is incredibly diverse, containing about 80,000 objects (including large working machinery), alongside 13,000 archival items, 10,000 library books, 4,000 photographs, and around 30,000 maps and plans. Together, these collections preserve the heritage, resilience, and lived experiences of Scotland’s mining communities for future generations.
At the museum, we strive to make these collections accessible and engaging through special exhibitions, learning workshops, events, handling sessions, and research visits. Still a large proportion of our collections remain in stores, where these objects are carefully documented, researched, and preserved by our curatorial team and volunteers.
These Object Highlight posts are designed to showcase some of the interesting and unique objects in our collection. From snap piece tins and safety lamps to coal sculptures and pit pony badges, these Object Highlights have been chosen and researched by our museum staff and volunteers. Explore our collections, learn something new about Scotland’s mining history, and keep checking this page for new objects to discover.
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