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. See stories from projects we've funded below.

We provide grants for heritage projects from £10,000–£10million to ensure that heritage is valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future.

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.

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.

Young woman in a gallery

Projects

Creative Wiltshire and Swindon

A partnership of heritage organisations used a Collecting Cultures grant to collect the work of local people.

A community archaeology project display
Community archaeology project display co-created by communities working with Tenby and Narberth Museums

Projects

Saving Treasures, Telling Stories

This project, supported by our Collecting Cultures fund, brought together museums across Wales with local treasure-hunters, improving long-term relationships and collections.

People in science fiction costumes

Projects

Exploring Childhoods

This project allowed the museum to be more adventurous, deepen relationships with community partners and seek out new audiences for more contemporary collections.

Collecting the Troubles and Beyond

Projects

Collecting the Troubles and Beyond

This three-year project aimed to strategically develop the collection of material related to the Troubles in National Museums of Northern Ireland (NMNI).

Volunteers learning new skills at the Washburn Heritage centre
Volunteers learning new skills at the Washburn Heritage centre

Projects

Life and death in the Washburn Valley

The history of Fewston Churchyard will be researched to reveal the roots of the local community.

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