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.

Young people in Nuneaton explored buildings in their area
Young people in Nuneaton explored buildings in their area.

Projects

Building Sights

Young people from across Nuneaton and Bedworth worked with the local charity, Mercurial Arts, the Borough Council and English Heritage, to create their own unique listing system and identify and record the buildings and sites important to them.

Exterior of Armagh County Museum

Projects

Armagh County Museum Public Access

The project helped improve access to the Grade A listed building that houses a regional museum for the County of Armagh.

A line of people smiling
The collecting panel for Fashioning Africa

Projects

Fashioning Africa

Meaningful relationships were built with local communities and diverse experts in this Collecting Cultures project, which saw new ways of working trialled and access widened.

Participants in the project
Participants in the project

Projects

Young Muslim Aberdeen

A group of local young Muslims explored how their heritage is archived in two major city museums, in a project run by Young Muslim Aberdeen.

British Museum courtyard

Projects

British Museum - Education & Information Centre

Our funding supported the creation of an education and information centre within the Great Court of the Museum, allowing access to this space for the first time since the 1850s.

Clay statues at Wheal Martyn China Clay Museum
Clay statues at Wheal Martyn China Clay Museum

Projects

Regeneration and resilience at Cornwall's china clay mining museum

Wheal Martyn is home to the UK’s only china clay mining museum. A fully accredited museum, Wheal Martyn cares for and presents a collection of industry-related objects, machinery, photographs and archives.

People taking part in Ask the Audience
People taking part in Ask the Audience

Projects

Ask the Audience

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) wanted their audiences and offer to better reflect the city’s diversity, and to change the organisation’s culture, putting audiences at its heart.

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