Museum Collections

The entire collection cared for by Culture Perth and Kinross is Recognised as a  Nationally Significant Collection. The collection is on display in Perth Art Gallery, Alyth Museum and Perth Museum from 2024.

Discover the wonderful collection of 500,000 objects and specimens from around the world. You can explore archaeology, local history, art, photography, world cultures, and natural history items of local, national, and international significance.

• Search a selection of the collection here.
• Buy prints from the JD Fergusson collection here.
• Licence images from the collection here.
• Find out what we collect here.
• Discover MyMuseum, a page for you to explore and curate the collections.

Legacies of Empire and Slavery in Collections

Culture Perth & Kinross is committed to acknowledging and exploring the history and legacies of colonialism and slavery, and the links between those histories and Perth & Kinross’s Recognised Collection of National Significance.

Staff have worked on several projects over the last few years which have begun to explore the complex histories of these objects (including loan and research partnerships with institutions and representatives of source communities). The redevelopment of the new Perth Museum has been an exciting opportunity to expand the scope of this work and to foreground how the history of Perth & Kinross, its museum and collection, are complicit with colonial and imperialist legacies which touched all corners of the world.

As part of developing new interpretation for Perth Museum, we have and will continue to work with representatives of source communities across the world to generate their responses to these histories, their reflections on the collection, and their curatorial guidance on appropriate collections care, treatment and future display.

As part of this work, we have been in consultation with our audiences, and colleagues and institutions across Scotland, the UK and internationally and will be contributing to Museum Galleries Scotland’s Delivering Change programme and working group on repatriation and restitution. We recognise that there are opportunities to expand our activities and commitment to critically interrogate our own collections and are exploring the means to undertake a full review of all collections with possible links to slavery and colonialism.

Donating Items

Get in touch by emailing collections@culturepk.org.uk