Explore stories, films, games and resources from the museums’ collections.

The Collections Services department manages and cares for our collections.

Within our collections departments, our staff hold a wealth of knowledge and can provide expert advice on collections, their identification, care and management.

Research is core to our activities as a Museum. Fnd out more about current research projects and opportunities, contact our curatorial staff and search our collections database.

Our collections are divided into four sections: Earth Systems, Invertebrates, Palaeobiology and Vertebrate Biology.

The wealth of objects in the national collection represent everything from Scottish and international archaeology to applied arts and design, from world cultures and social history to science, technology and the natural world.

Loans and touring exhibitions ensure our collections reach as many people as possible.

National Museums Scotland aims to develop, manage, conserve and interpret the national collections, to ensure their preservation and benefit to the public.

Our online database contains a selection of the 12 million objects and specimens in our collections.

Explore Pacific collections through this partnership project focusing on objects from across the region housed in Scottish museums.

This small display highlighted a selection of the recent acquisitions at National Museums Scotland.

Find out more about how colonial collectors gathered a broad range of objects from areas that were, and still are, considered ethnically and culturally Tibetan to some degree, including areas of Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Ladakh and West Bengal.

The Introduction to Pacific Collections is a resource for anyone interested in working with material culture from the Pacific.

This training resource focuses on the basics of caring for museum collections. It offers practical advice, shared good practice through case studies and demonstrations, and provides resources and links for further learning.

We lend objects from our collection to museums around the world.

An exciting new discovery from the TW:eed Research project.

Some of the other Scottish museums home to Pacific collections.

Collections in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray.

Explore the Pacific collection at National Museums Scotland in more detail.

Collections in Edinburgh, including National collections.

Our collection covers all the major groups of fossil invertebrates, vertebrates, plants and trace fossils.

Find out more about our review of Pacific material.

Collections in Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders.

Our Indian collections encompass a wide range of objects and reflect various aspects of Indian life.

Collections in Argyll and Bute, Eilean Siar, Highland, Orkney and Shetland.

Find out more about East Asian collections in museums across Scotland

Within the walls of Edinburgh Castle, the National War Museum tells the story of Scotland at war.

Natural Science Collections Across Scotland was a two-year project, funded by John Ellerman Foundation, working with museums across Scotland to advance curatorial expertise and increase engagement with natural science collections.

Discover how the advent of the Younghusband Expedition resulted in the collection of Tibetan objects directly from Tibet by British military collectors.

This earthcreeper was one of thousands of specimens collected during a voyage that Charles Darwin joined on the HMS Beagle.

Collections in the west of Scotland from Inverclyde to East Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire to East Dunbartonshire.

Collections in City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian.

Collections in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray.

Our collections comprise more than 200,000 vertebrate specimens from around the world.

Collections in Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee City, Falkirk, Perth and Kinross and Stirling

Wherever you are, there are lots of ways to explore and learn about our amazing collections online.

Collections in Argyll and Bute, Eilean Siar, Highland, Orkney and Shetland.

Find out more about artefacts at Glasgow Museums from the Pacific.

Collections in the west of Scotland from Inverclyde to East Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire to East Dunbartonshire.

A closer look at University of Aberdeen museums Pacific material.

Collections in Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders

Visitors discovered the diversity of life in Scotland’s seas and the many threats facing our marine life.

In 1971, over 300 beautiful scent bottles were donated to National Museums Scotland. The scent bottles were collected by Ida Pappenheim. Discover the story behind this charming collection.

The Natural Sciences department houses more than 2,000 shells, insects, bird skins and bats from the collections of the legendary naturalist John George Williams.

Discover how these amazing glass models have been educating and inspiring visitors for almost 150 years.

Delve into the diverse collection of pioneering ethnomusicologist Jean Jenkins.

National Museums Scotland’s Ancient Egyptian collection comprises around 6,000 items. Explore its rich treasures here.

Our Classical collection unlocks a window to a ‘birthplace of civilisation’: ancient Greece and Rome.

These carved wooden sculptures from West Africa represent the souls of deceased twins.