Collections of social history, fine and applied art, natural history and archaeology related to Inverness and the immediate surrounding Highland areas are at the heart of our museum and we are continually adding to these resources.
Are you looking to donate an object to our museum? We gratefully accept donations from the public as a way of building our collections and our Curators would be delighted to hear from you. However, it is important that we do not duplicate material or collect objects that fall outside our Collections Policy so we cannot accept everything that is offered to us. We would also need to know as much about the items being offered to the museum as possible to enable us to make a decision on whether or not to accept.
Please do note, however, that:
- We cannot accept items on long-term loan.
- We cannot accept items with specific conditions attached.
- Unless there are compelling and legitimate reasons, hazardous objects and substances will not be accepted under any circumstances (eg firearms, objects containing asbestos, explosive, flammable, poisonous, potentially carcinogenic or radioactive material).
If we are able to accept your object, please note that we may not be able to put it on display for some time. We care for over 55,000 objects, and exhibitions and displays have to be carefully planned in advance. However, your item(s) will be carefully stored and used for special exhibitions, lent to other museums and be available for research, study and education purposes. We may also feel your object would be better used by educational groups, in which case we would not accession the object but use it for our ‘handling’ collection. We would discuss this with you at the time of donation.
If you are considering offering an object to the museum as a donation, please contact us using the details below. Please note that our acquisitions policy is quite strict so we cannot guarantee being able to accept your donation. We also cannot provide object valuations.
Please contact us for further information or to donate an object:
Kari Moodie, Curator (Collections)
