ABOUT THE ONLINE COLLECTION

What’s in the Science Museum Group collection?

The Science Museum Group cares for a diverse and internationally significant collection of 7.3 million items from science, technology, engineering, medicine, transport and media.

More about our collection and how we care for it

What material is published online?

On the Science Museum Group collection website, you can find material published from our object and archival collections.

We have over 500,000 objects and 50,000 archival documents published online.

Our collection of 7 million items has been added to and documented since 1851. Some historic records within the collection may contain illustrations and descriptions that are offensive or reflect outdated ideas and analysis. This material does not reflect our values as an organisation that is Open for All.

We are actively improving these historic records, including by adding context, correcting errors, changing language and calling out offensive characterisations. Sometimes we have retained original content as evidence of historic racism. Please contact us if you have concerns about a specific record.

We also have separate websites to browse:

• Our archive collection in depth
• Our library collection

How to use the website?

The Science Museum Group collection website enables you to search and browse material published online.

Searching and filtering

You can search the collection for:

• Objects
• People
• Documents

Searching and filtering

You can filter the collection by:

• Category
• Date
• Maker

Objects on display

Where an object is on display in one of our five museums, you will see its location highlighted on the page

We regularly update objects on display.

If you are planning a visit to see a specific object, please contact us in advance to make sure that it will be on display.

Using our data and images

All our collection data and images, where possible, are made avaliable under a Creative Commons licence. Read more about our Creative Commons policy.

Using the filters on the search result page, you can find records with images released under a Non-Commercial Creative Commons licence.

If you would like to use our images commercially, please contact the Science & Society Picture Library.

Collection data API

All our collection data can be accessed via our Collection API.

Contact

To enquier about an object or document or to give feedback on a collection record, please contact us

We will endeavour to respond to emails within 10 working days.

Notice & Takedown Policy

The Science Museum Group has made all reasonable efforts to ensure that images and other content on our collection website are reproduced with the consent of their copyright holders. However, there are some copyright holders who so far have proved to be untraceable. For more information please view our Notice & Takedown Policy.