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.

Newcastle Rotary Club's Annual Outing for the Blind
Some of the officials and guests ready for Newcastle Rotary Club's annual outing to Whitley Bay

Projects

Exploring visual impairment in Newcastle

Visually impaired volunteers investigated the 150-year-old history of their society to learn more about blind heritage in the North East

Cardiff Remembers Mural
Cardiff Remembers Mural created at Cardiff Story Museum

Projects

Cardiff Remembers/Caerdydd yn Cofio

The Firing Line Museum, located in Cardiff Castle are running a project focusing on collections connected to the First World War held by project partners, Cardiff Story Museum, Glamorgan Archives, Western Front Association and Cardiff University.

Volunteers from the Hadleigh and Thundersley Community Archive Group examine a walking map
The Hadleigh and Thundersley Community Archive Group celebrate the printing of a walking history map

Projects

Creating a pictorial historical record of South East Essex

Volunteers explored and shared nine decades of history through Hadleigh and Thundersley Community Archive’s All Our Stories project.

Grantees at Aberystwyth's Ceredigion Museum celebrate their HLF grant
Grantees at Aberystwyth's Ceredigion Museum celebrate their HLF grant

Projects

Ceredigion Museum - New Approaches

Ceredigion Museum has reopened, following a project to transform its operations, resilience and sustainability.

A comic Creator giving a talk in front of a crowd at The Cartoon Museum
Comic Creator Jamie Smart giving a talk at The Cartoon Museum. Credit: The Cartoon Museum

Projects

Comic Creators

The Comic Creators project helped the London-based charity to diversify its audience by expanding its collections and events programme.

If you query is regarding our application portal, please contact our support team.