Collections

The history of the museum service and the origin of its core collections, derived from several earlier museums, are summarised elsewhere on this site. It is our intention to publish more accessible details of our holdings in due course but in the meantime, a general idea of their scope can be found in one of our earlier Policy Statements. Detailed information about the range of material represented in the natural history collection can be found in the UK national FENSCORE database.

Our own collection databases currently hold catalogue records for more than 40,000 museum objects. Many single records actually refer to groups of individual objects (like a cabinet containing many specimens or an album of photographs) and the process of compiling detailed records (illustrated by digital images) for every single item is an on-going process. It is likely that the individual record count will be at least double the figure given above, when this process is fully up to date. Computers are clearly essential for managing this amount of information about our collections and their day to day use. We are actively reviewing meaningful ways of presenting relevant parts of this collections data, here on the web site.

As the 'national' museum for the Bailiwick of Guernsey, our emphasis for current collecting focuses entirely on items of local relevance, mainly in the areas of archaeology, social history (in its widest sense) and fine art.  These disciplines, together with most aspects of natural history, are also represented in the inherited core collections, though the origins of the core material are worldwide in some subject areas. Active and methodical natural history collecting is not currently undertaken, though accidentally killed animals and other legally taken local specimens are added occasionally.

Like most museums, our primary role is to preserve significant material for the future, while also using it to inspire, educate or entertain our present visitors. There is actually something of a conflict between the 'preservation' role and what we sometimes call the 'presentation' side of a museum's activities. The simple fact is that many objects (like watercolour paintings and the colours of a bird or butterfly) gradually deteriorate when exposed to light, so the fact that we can only display a proportion of our collections at one time is actually a benefit, rather than the problem many people seem to think. It is helpful to regard a museum as a reference library of three dimensional objects, the bulk of which (the reserve collections) are safely stored but available for viewing by simple appointment. We are always keen to try and satisfy individual requests for access to material from the collections, though (for Health and Safety reasons) group visits are not possible in our current accommodation. Requests for access to parts of the collections should be made to the appropriate curatorial officer - details on our contacts page.