Wycombe Museum is not currently able to accept or assess any offers to the museum collection
We are grateful for each and every offer to the collection. Our collection is extremely important, reflecting as it does the lives and histories of local people, and each offer must be carefully considered and documented which takes a significant length of time.
For the next few months, our Curator will be busy on some exciting new projects, focussed on our remarkable chair collection. This includes moving to a new store, conserving the collection and developing new exhibitions all about chairs.
Feel free to look below for guidelines on what we normally consider for the collection. If you believe that the item(s) you wish to offer is exceptional (eg an 18th century Windsor chair), you can email details to info@wycombemuseum.org and we will contact you if we would like to know more.
Thank you for your support and understanding.
Wycombe Museum’s unique collection has grown thanks to the generosity of local people.
If you would like to offer an artefact as a gift to the Museum, please fill in the form below before bringing the item in. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to see you without an appointment and you won’t be able to leave items at the Museum unless this has been agreed in advance with our curator.
We are grateful for every offer to our collection. However, space and resources to properly care for objects far into the future are limited and so we cannot accept every item that the Museum is offered.
To help you understand how we decide which items we accept and which we decline, you might like to know that:
- Our remit is Wycombe and district and we do not usually collect items that have a history from outside of this area – see the map of what area this covers.
- We prioritise objects with a provenance or background information. This links the artefact to people and makes it more interesting to visitors.
- We do not usually collect duplicate or very similar objects. We always consider what we already have in our collection before making a decision.
- Some areas of Wycombe District are better represented in the existing collection that others. We might consider where the object is from when making a decision.
- We might sometimes want to accept duplicate items, items without a provenance or items from outside the District for our Handling Collection. This means that schools and other groups might handle the item in supervised sessions and these items would be subject to a much greater degree of wear and tear than items in the main collection. Please indicate when filling in the form whether you would like your item(s) to be considered for the Handling Collection.
- Anything we accept must be in good condition and not actively deteriorating.
- We don’t take items ‘on loan’ unless it is for a specific purpose with a fixed end date, such as for an exhibition.
- We can’t accept items with conditions imposed. Museum staff now and in the future need to be free to display and use all items in the collection in the same way.
- If we decline your generous offer, we will always let you know why.
