Donations

Donation FAQs

• What type of items can I donate?

  The Museum can only accept items which fall within its Collections Policy. This is usually limited to items with links to the Scottish mining industry. If you are still in doubt, please contact us. Please ensure you have the legal right to give us the item.

• How do I donate an item?

  Please fill in the online Donations Form. Once this is received by our Curatorial Team, we will consider your item and contact you as soon as possible regarding our decision. If we decide to accept the item into the collection, we would contact you to arrange a time to bring the item to the Museum and ask you to fill in our required paperwork, to transfer ownership and any copyright to the Museum.

  We would then complete our acquisitions process and your item would become part of National Mining Museum Scotland’s collection. This information is held in both paper form and electronically.

• Will the item be displayed?

  Only a small proportion of the Museum’s collection is on display at any given time. However, all items not currently on display can be accessed by appointment.

• What will happen to the item?

  The item will be stored with the rest of the collection. The Museum uses its collections for a variety of purposes including display, research and handling (for visiting school and community groups etc.). Collections are also loaned out to other institutions.

• Why can’t you accept the item as a donation?

  We might not be able to accept your item as a donation. There are many reasons why we can’t accept items into the collections:

  • We already have similar items
  • The item doesn’t match our Collections Policy
  • The item is not in good condition
  • Provenance of the item is unclear
  • We do not have sufficient storage space for the item
  • We are unable to transport the item

  Please read our Collections Policy for further information.

   

• What will happen if you can’t accept the item?

  Where possible we will suggest another museum or organisations who could be interested in the item.

• Can I loan an item to the Museum?

  We are unable to accept loans from individuals unless there are exceptional circumstances.