Our Collections
Home ⟩ Our Collections
The Museum is a local social history museum and collects objects, usually referred to as ‘artefacts’, from Milton Keynes and its surrounding area (15 miles from the centre of MK – though now Milton Keynes has significant artefacts with a strong and unique relationship to the area are most appreciated and the Museum is actively collecting artefacts relating to New Milton Keynes and evocative artefacts from the late 60s – 90s
View our Collections
Milton Keynes Museum Collection
Any artefact can only be accepted by the Collections Committee, consisting of volunteers, staff and Board Members and guided by the Collections Officer (Sarah Chard-Cooper) who will have responded, in the first instance, to the offer. She will have requested a photograph and some details about the artefact that will help assess its significance and allow the Committee to make its decision.
A Museum Collection is both an asset – as it is what visitors will wish to see – and a liability – as storage and conservation are an expensive commitment, which will extend over decades or even centuries. No wonder the Collections Committee takes its work very seriously. To the Museum, local significance is of paramount importance, but it cannot collect too many similar artefacts, no matter what their value; and condition is important, too.
Artefacts on Loan
Museums rarely accept artefacts on loan. Exceptions are made for temporary exhibitions or for important, often unique, artefacts, especially from other museums.
Exhibitions in the New Milton Keynes Gallery will feature artefacts from 1967 to the present and will help tell the story of our new city in as stimulating a way as possible. Some of these artefacts will relate to planning and building; some to how people have set up their homes here; others to changes in fashion and ways of life; and some to work and education. This Gallery will serve as a reminder to residents and a showcase to visitors and so it should be evocative and spectacular, whilst illustrating the real essence of Milton Keynes.
Looking to the future
Soon the days of the original residents of Milton Keynes will be past and it is important that their memories and the things that made up their worlds are not lost. This ‘Contemporary Collecting’ is often more difficult than collecting historic artefacts, as with so much to consider, it is difficult to assess significance.
We need both the help and the understanding of all Milton Keynes residents, if we are to do justice to Milton Keynes.
