Asked at the desk, most weeks
Questions
If yours is not here, ring the desk on +1 876 922 0620 or put it on the request form. Nobody here is too busy for a question about a hinge.
Is it really free?
Yes, and it has been since 1948. Entry is free, the study room is free, the Saturday walk is free, and asking us what something is costs nothing. The only charge in the building is one thousand five hundred dollars for a scanned copy of a drawing or a photograph, waived for schools.
How much is on display, and where is the rest?
Four hundred and twelve objects are out in the five rooms. The other eleven thousand or so are in the store on the top two floors, in nine bays and four plan chests. The store is not a warehouse of things we have given up on: it is the museum, and the rooms are a selection from it.
How do I see something that is in store?
Find it in the register, add it to a request, and send the request with a day that suits you. Give us two working days. The study room runs Wednesday and Friday, ten to three, with two tables and up to six objects on a table at once.
What if the thing I want is not in the register yet?
Describe it in the request instead. Only part of the register has been typed up, so the website is behind the books. We will look in the books, and we will tell you either way rather than leaving the request unanswered.
Can I photograph objects?
Yes, in the rooms and in the study room, with the flash off. Put the accession number in your own notes so you can cite it later. If you need a proper photograph rather than your own, ask and we will tell you whether one exists.
Do you want my grandmother's things?
Sometimes, and we would rather you asked than not. Bring it in or send a photograph. We say no to most offers, because a museum that says yes to everything runs out of store in ten years, and we will tell you why and what else might take it.
Where we stop
Four things we will not do
Saying this plainly saves everybody a journey. None of it is a policy we enjoy, and three of the four are about not pretending to a competence we do not have.
- No valuationsWe will tell you what an object is, what it is made of and roughly when it was made. We will not put a figure on it, and we will not write anything an insurer or an auction house can use. Ask a valuer.
- No identification from a photograph aloneFor metalwork and ceramics, a photograph is usually enough to get you a sensible answer. For anything where the weight, the tooling or the fixings carry the evidence, bring it in. We would rather say nothing than guess in writing.
- We do not buyNothing in this building was bought and nothing ever will be. Every object was given. If you want to sell something, we are the wrong door, and we will not value it for the sale either.
- We cannot store your thingsThe store is full enough that the accessions committee turns down most offers. We will not take an object in on loan for safekeeping, and an object left at the desk is not accessioned by being left there.