Horniman Museum & Gardens

The archive provides a fairly comprehensive record of the Horniman's activities and the development of its collections from its opening in 1890 through to the present day.
Material relates to:
- Buildings and physical development of the Museum
- Management of the Museum's collections
- The Museum's education programme
- Temporary exhibitions
- Governance of the Museum
- Public relations and other publicity
- General administration
- Photographs of the Museum
The archive is a rich resource for anyone interested in late 19th and 20th century museum practices in Britain, in the activities of the Horniman family, or in subjects relating to the museum's three main collections (anthropology, musical instruments and natural history).

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk