Museums, libraries and archives | The National Lottery Heritage Fund

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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.

Find out more and apply

Two people looking at tapes on shelves

Projects

Digitising the Leonard Cheshire Sound Archive - preserving and raising awareness of Leonard Cheshire History

256 sound tapes that record the memories of people who have lived, worked and volunteered at Leonard Cheshire Disability since the 1950s will be preserved and made available to the public.

21/03/2019

Gairloch Museum staff holding a Museum of the Year banner

Stories

Meet the multiple winners of the 2020 Museum of the Year Award

This year, not one, but five museums were crowned winners of the Art Fund Museum of the Year Award.

Black family visiting London Museum

Stories

Mental health and wellbeing for black workers in heritage

We spoke with a black museum employee to share their experiences within the sector.

An artwork in the gallery

Art installation at the Queering Spires exhibition

Stories

Museum of Oxford wins Sustainable Project of the Year

Queering Spires exhibition honoured for its commitment to sustainability at the Museums + Heritage Awards.

Exterior view of The Box, Plymouth

Stories

Heritage grant helps fund Plymouth's new cultural and heritage destination

Thanks to a £14.8million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund a major new cultural and heritage venue in Plymouth, The Box, is ready to open its doors.

Sadia Habib and Stephen Welsh

Dr Habib and Stephen Welsh with project participant, Urussa

Blogs

South Asian heritage: truth-telling and transformation

Dr Sadia Habib and Stephen Welsh take a look at how more UK museums are considering ways of deepening engagement with South Asian communities and heritage.

18/08/2020

Alistair McNaught smiling in nature

Alistair McNaught

Blogs

Making heritage websites accessible to all

When producing our new guide to online accessibility, Alistair McNaught’s research identified how heritage organisations can make their online content open to all. He tells us more.

06/08/2020

Exterior of Ditchling Museum with sign saying 'it's good to be back'.

Stories

Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft: adapting in difficult times

Now open again, Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft discovered new ways to engage communities and increase resilience during lockdown.

Matthew Mckeague, CEO of the Architectural Heritage Fund

Blogs

Partners and pioneers – building back after the pandemic

Town centres are struggling – after the pandemic, innovative partnerships and investment in heritage can help them flourish again.

28/07/2020

A woman reading a book to two children

Stories

When the museums open up again

As heritage attractions are given the go-ahead to reopen, we spoke to six museums, which, thanks to National Lottery players, have been helped by our £50m Heritage Emergency Fund.

Schoolgirl looking at Dippy dinosaur

News

Six projects chosen for Sustainable Project of the Year

Six heritage projects across the UK have been shortlisted for The National Lottery Heritage Fund's inaugural Museums + Heritage Sustainable Project of the Year Award.

01/07/2020

Bernard Donoghue

Blogs

Rejecting nostalgia for positive change

It’s fascinating that one of the TV programmes that has had the largest increases in viewers during lockdown is BBC One’s The Repair Shop.

29/06/2020