London
The British Museum
Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG
• Website
• Collections database
• email: aoa@britishmuseum.org
The British Museum was founded in 1753. It was the first national museum to cover all fields of human knowledge and was opened to visitors from across the world.
• Today, the British Museum’s collection comprises around eight million objects, approximately 90,000 of which originate from the Americas.
Please contact the museum well in advance of your visit to ensure that access to collections is possible.
Wellcome Collection
183 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE
• Website
• Collections database
• email: collections@wellcomecollection.org
Named after Sir Henry S. Wellcome, an American pharmaceutical businessman with a keen interest in collecting, Wellcome’s original Historical Medical Museum comprised over one million objects. Following Wellcome’s death in 1936, the majority of the collection was dispersed. Today, Wellcome Collection retains a significant archive that reflects Wellcome’s interests in science, medicine, life and art. The remaining objects from his original collection are held at the Science Museum on a long-term loan basis.
Throughout his life, Wellcome maintained an interest in Native North American cultures and medicinal practices. Particularly significant is his complex relationship with Coast Tsimshian communities, evidenced through his support of the Anglican missionary William Duncan. This is documented in a collection of hand-written journals by Tsimshian man Arthur Wellington Clah, a painting of the village of Lax Kw’alaams (in what is currently known as British Columbia) by Frederick Alexcee and in Wellcome’s own book, The Story of Metlakahtla.
Wellcome Collection have extended an invitation to Indigenous communities to collaborate on ensuring that the cultural meaning and context of these collections is reflected in how the museum develops, manages and presents them. See here for more information on how to get involved.
Please contact the museum well in advance of your visit to ensure that access to collections is possible.
Science Museum
Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2DD
• Website
• Collections database
• email: documentationonline@sciencemuseum.ac.uk
Alongside its own impressive collection, the Science Museum in London houses the remaining material from the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum (see: Wellcome Collection). This material was transferred from Wellcome to the Science Museum in 1973 on a long-term loan basis, and the two organisations continue to share responsibility and care of the objects.
Amongst the material are a small collection of items from North America relating to the history of medicine. These include carvings from the Pacific North-West coast as well as several Očhéthi Šakówiŋ amulets.
Please contact the museum well in advance of your visit to ensure that access to collections is possible.
Horniman Museum and Gardens
100 London Road, Forest Hill, London, SE23 3PQ
• Website
• Collections database
• email: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk
Established in 1890 by tea merchant Frederick Horniman, featuring ethnography, natural history and an aquarium. The Native American Collections here include substantial holdings of material from the Plains Peoples, the Arctic and the Northwest Coast.
Much of the collection is on display in the World Galleries, opened in 2018, which features an interactive exploration of Kwakwaka’wakw oral histories as told by artist Sierra Tasi Baker through masks made by Steve Smith.
Please contact the museum well in advance of your visit to ensure that access to collections is possible.
Royal Museums Greenwich and the National Maritime Museum
Romney Rd, London SE10 9NF
• Website
• Collections database
• email: research@rmg.co.uk
Royal Museums Greenwich holds over 2.5 million items, including astronomical and navigational instruments, ship models and plans, coins, medals and flags, uniforms and weapons, plus historical art, film and photography.
The National Maritime Museum, which is part of RMG, also contains the world’s largest maritime library and archive collection, some of which relates to early American history.
Please contact the museum well in advance of your visit to ensure that access to collections is possible.