Collections Move Project

Collections Move team moving objects in the Pitt Rivers Museum collection

Collections Move Project

The four University museums are leading a major programme to move the stored collections. The moves are part of the museums’ shared Storage Strategy, which will see the development of two new museum collections centres in Oxford and Swindon.

About the project

The four University museums hold over 8.5 million objects and specimens, with less than 1% on permanent display. The stored collections until recently were housed in 7,000 square metres of storage, located in 10 off-site locations across Oxfordshire, with the remainder stored within the museums.

Over six years the project will transfer the majority of the off-site collections into two purpose-built collection and research centres: one located in the Reuben College building in central Oxford; the other in Swindon as an extension of the Bodleian Libraries’ Collections Storage Facility.

These two new centres will enable us to consolidate the collections into two locations, providing high-quality storage facilities and offering greater access to the collections for researchers, students and the public. Planning is underway for these important new facilities, including the type and size of storage required, the relevant environmental conditions for the different collections, and the expected frequency of retrieval and access to the collections.

Prior to the opening of these new facilities, the project will be undertaking a series of interim moves to ensure that the collections are stored in a safe and secure environment, with appropriate access arrangements for museum staff and researchers. This will include consolidating part of the stored collections in temporary heritage storage. The project will then start a two-year programme of moves into the two new collection centres. At its conclusion, the programme will have completed over 30 separate moves projects into the new collection centres.

The Moves Programme is a key priority for GLAM, which will help ensure that the stored collections are properly protected and cared for, and enable the museums to provide much greater access to the University’s globally significant collections. Completion of the Collections Moves Project is provisionally scheduled for late 2025.

Gloved hands packing a collection of bells

Completed (January - March 2020)

Pitt Rivers musical instruments decant

A two-stage project auditing and moving approximately 100,000 objects from the Pitt Rivers offsite music stores.

Part 1 - 7,000 musical instruments

Collections Move assistant handling objects in storage

Completed (March - July 2020)

Pitt Rivers lithics decant

A two-stage project auditing and moving approximately 100,000 objects from the Pitt Rivers offsite stone tool stores.

Part 2 - 88,000 stone tools

Before and after shots of moving collections in storage

Completed (September 2020 - December 2021)

Harkness Building decant

An ambitious decant project in three stages, auditing and moving approximately 64,600 objects from the Ashmolean collections.

Phase 1 - Decant of large objects from the Western Art Department

Phase 2 - Decant of Eastern Art collections, textiles and archives

Phase 3 - Decant of Antiquities collections

Completed (January - July 2022)

Processing Harkness Building collections

A project to process the remaining Harkness Building objects from the Ashmolean collection at the temporary store to ensure they are ready for long-term storage.

Completed (July 2022)

Life & Earth collections decant

A move of Museum of Natural History objects from existing storage to the temporary stores, including checking and re-packing objects.

Exterior of the History of Science Museum

Completed (August 2022 - March 2023)

Processing History of Science Museum collections

A project at the temporary store to sort through History of Science Museum collections formerly stored in the Osney Power Station to ensure they are ready for long-term storage and prepare them for the moves to the Collections Teaching & Research Centre in Oxford and the Collections Storage Facility in Swindon.

Completed (March - May 2023)

Museum of Natural History Earth collections decant

A project to pack and move Museum of Natural History Earth Collections from a museum basement store to the temporary store.

In progress (June 2023 - Ongoing)

Pitt Rivers textiles decant

A project to decant Pitt Rivers Museum textiles from an offsite store and move into the Collections Teaching & Research Centre.

In progress (March 2024 - Ongoing)

Museum of Natural History Life collections decant

A project to pack and move the entomology and zoology collections from an offsite store into the Collections Teaching & Research Centre.

In progress (2024)

Ashmolean Museum collections decant

A project to pack and move Western Art sculpture and Western Art, Eastern Art and Antiquities ceramics and textiles from in house museum storage into the Collections Teaching & Research Centre.

Ongoing moves into the stores

Temporary Stores

A new hangar has been converted into a collections store, providing the space needed to decant collections throughout the moves project.

Collections Move Project