Object search

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Here you can search across 4,228,006 object records from 43 collection datasets. This includes data from 90 Accredited museums. Of these records, 321,459 indicate the existence of an associated image, though not all will be viewable via clickable links, nor necessarily be digital images.

The object records you can find here are more-or-less as they were exported from the databases of our contributing collections, apart from some mapping of field names. We, and our colleagues from those collections, know that this ‘raw’ data is often patchy and inconsistent. There are likely to be some factual and typographical errors. Some records may contain language reflecting past attitudes and assumptions now recognised as prejudiced, offensive and harmful.

Museums are working hard to improve a range of legacy problems in their collections data. Making their records available via MDS helps make that work more transparent, open and inclusive.

At the end of each object record published here, you will find an invitation to give feedback. MDS will pass this feedback to the relevant museum. Note that if the museum makes changes to its original records, within its own database, these may take time to be updated here. MDS itself will not normally take down a record in response to feedback unless there is a clear legal duty for us to do so, or the source museum asks us to.