The Museum Collection
The Museum Collection is a real treasure trove of objects from East Lothian's past. We have all sorts of useful, beautiful and wonderful things including: fine and decorative art, archaeology, ceramics, textiles and costumes, natural history specimens, items illustrating domestic, working and community life and much, much more!
Some of the treasures of the collection are on display at our museums. Information about hundreds of other objects is available online at Scran and Flickr and you can search the collections through the John Gray Centre website. For collections news and information why not give us a follow on Twitter (@ELMuseumService) or Facebook.
Collections not on display are held in our secure, environmentally-controlled store at the Museums Service Headquarters in Haddington. Whilst this is not open to the public, appointments can be arranged to view objects upon request. Please get in touch if you would like information about accessing the reserve collection.
We cannot accept donations without prior arrangement due to the need to quarantine the object/s and ensure that we have a member of staff available to assist you. Please contact us to make an appointment for donations.
The Museums Service receives items by donation, in bequests, via the Treasure Trove system, via purchases and on loan for specific exhibitions. We ensure that all items are handled with care whilst in our custody (whether on display or in transit) and that loan items are returned to their owner when we are finished with them. If you would like to find out more or have an object you might be interested in donating please contact us. Our museum collections privacy notice (describing how we protect and use your data) is available on our downloads page.
Our Collections Development Policy was approved by East Lothian Council in February 2019. It sets out our collecting remit and sets guidelines for recording, conserving and securing the collections. The current policy is available in our downloads.
We have large number of images of objects, artworks or photographs in our collections. Please get in touch if you would like a copy of one of our images. More information about reproduction fees and the terms and conditions of use are available in our downloads.