Collections at the Museum

The life and earth science collections of the Museum comprise some 70 million specimens or items, gathered over 400 years. The collections cover virtually all groups of animals, plants, minerals and fossils from all across the world, and even the universe. Find out how the collections started, who looks after them and how they affect our everyday life.

Introduction to our collections

The Museum is home to 70 million specimens. Who has access to them, and what does the future hold for this impressive data source?
Who were the first collectors?

The Museum owes its beginnings to Sir Hans Sloane, an 18th century collector. He acquired over 80,000 items, forming the single largest collection of any individual in Europe.
Why are the collections important?

The Museum's collections serve many purposes, from educating and inspiring visitors to solving problems in agricultural, medical and forensic science.
Our curators

Once specimens arrive at the Museum, they need to be prepared and labelled by curators. But the majority of a curator's time is spent maintaining and documenting existing collections.
Collections in the future

As the Museum's collections continue to grow, it is necessary to improve and expand our storage facilities.
Wallace Collection

The Wallace Collection brings together a remarkable selection of digitised letters, notes, articles and insect specimens collected by Wallace himself.
Collections Navigator

Search our database covering the wide range of collections held at the Museum, including fish, fossils and flowers
Keeping and Caring

How does the Museum organise, preserve and conserve its 60 million life science specimens?
Slavery and the natural world

Find out what the Museum's collections reveal about the links between slavery and the natural world.
Richard Sabin's desert island specimens (video)

Every Museum scientist has a favourite specimen from our 70-million-strong collection. Join us to delve into mammal curator, Richard Sabin's top three.
Clare Valentine's desert island specimens (video)

With responsibility for a quarter of a million sponge specimens, what are Clare Valentine’s favourites of the Museum’s collections?
Desert islands specimens - Andy Currant (video)

How was it that Mammal Curator Andy Currant bonded with the skull of an extinct giant ground sloth?
Miranda Lowe's desert island specimens (video)

Zoologist Miranda Lowe introduces us to a giant relative of the woodlouse, the largest land crab and an alien crab invading the Thames.
Ollie Crimmen's desert island specimens (video)

Find out which three of the Museum’s 70 million specimens fish curator Ollie Crimmen finds particularly fascinating.
The Gilded Canopy - unseen beauty above our heads (video)

Where can you find a major art display in the Museum that's rarely noticed? It's on the ceiling. Join us to learn more.
Norman McLeod's desert island specimens (video)

Find out why the Museum specimens that mean the most to Norman Macleod represent the history of how he came to be a palaeontologist.