• Items in long-term storage need special conservation. Here, textile hangers are being made.
  • Researchers and experts can add to the Museums own knowledge - learning about collections never ends!
  • Objects normally in storage are often included in temporary displays. This display showed items from a medieval house and burial.

Museum Collections

Shetland Museum collections relate to all aspects of the islands’ history. We collect objects relevant to the islands only. These are usually things used here, often made here too. Other things belonged to Shetlanders, or to emigrants from the islands who lived elsewhere. Some objects are unique to Shetland. Other things are mass-produced that you’d see anywhere else, but are important to us because of the specifically Shetland tale they have to tell.

Like most museums, only a small proportion of the Shetland Museum collections are on display.  Researchers wishing to access the collections for study should contact the Curator of Collections using our Contact Us form.