Natural Science Collections at Sandwell Museum Service

Welcome to

Natural Science Collections

in West Midlands Museums and Botanical Gardens

Sandwell: Sandwell Museum Service

Contact: Emma Cook, Curator

Tel: 0121 556 0683

Collections: Extensive geology specimens both representative of locally and other locations in the British Isles - principal one collector's collection - geology specimens no longer collected. Collection of various taxidermy items (cased and uncased), large collection of moths and butterflies (ex display at Oak House Museum now in storage at Wednesbury Museum & Art Gallery)

Access: Permanent display of geological specimens in 'Time Stones' exhibition at Wednesbury Museum & Art Gallery. Supervised access to reserve geological and biological collections upon request. Access to individual objects may not be possible due to storage access restrictions.

Key Issues:

Documentation - only manual records for the geological collections no accurate documentation for the biological collections.

Storage - no climate control for collection storage, all biological collections not packaged in acid free enclosures, geological collections store in difficult store to access (currently under cabinets in permanent geology display)

Staff - only one collections manager/curator for entire museum service collection, not a specialist in geology or biological specimens.

Conservation - no budget for conservation, all conservation on the collections would have to be grant aided or supported by Friends.

Exhibition - outdated geology exhibitions, very stale not interesting to the casual visitor.

Developments: Redisplay of geology gallery.