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Museums, libraries and archives

Museums, libraries and archives

A person handles large parchment documents in an archive room, with shelves of archive boxes in the background
Black Cultural Archives. Credit: Kois Miah
Museums, libraries and archives tell the stories of our cultural heritage.

Through objects, collections, film, documents and oral histories they help to give us a sense of place and identity.

Thanks to National Lottery players, since 1994 we have awarded £2.4billion to 5,900 museum, library, archive and collection-based projects across the UK.

What do we support?

Our funding supports institutions large and small, including:

  • national and local authority museums, libraries and archives
  • historic libraries
  • community archives
  • institutions with heritage collections

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

  • create exciting new exhibition and learning spaces
  • attract more diverse audiences
  • interpret and open up acquisitions
  • develop collections

For more inspiration, see the stories below or browse projects we've funded.

How to get funding

Our National Lottery Heritage Grants programme is open for applications.

Find out more and apply
Children in a museum
Children enjoying an exhibition at Seven Stories, Newcastle upon Tyne

Hub

Dynamic Collections

Our campaign supported collecting organisations across the UK to become more inclusive and resilient with a focus on engagement, re-interpretation and collections management.
Hands on embroidery

Projects

Touching stitches: embroidery access for the blind

This innovative project explored ways to enable blind and partially sighted people to access the Edinburgh College of Art’s historic textile collection, which spans over three centuries.

A group of people outside a heritage building featuring a clock tower at Hopetown Darlington.
Staff from Darlington Borough Council and Hopetown.Darlington at the new visitor attraction.

Projects

Hopetown: celebrating the North East’s railway heritage

A state-of-the-art visitor attraction and community engagement scheme celebrates the historic Stockton and Darlington railway line.

A black and white image of children playing in an industrial area.
A photograph from the AmberSide Collection.

Projects

Transforming Amber: Building a Resilient Future

This project will safeguard an industrial heritage archive by developing new ways for the Amber Film & Photography Collective to become financially sustainable.