Museums And Archives

BEANO more risk: a new home for our offsite collections

We will de-risk our collections, take steps towards organisational resilience, and unlock research potential within our collections through this urgent project. Our offsite collections, including 8,000+ publications, are currently in Yellow Box storage units in London. By moving collections to new archival racks at the University of Kent (home of the British Cartoon Archive) we will improve their condition and reduce risk of damage. Practically, this move will also reduce our storage costs by two-thirds, representing a significant savings for a small independent museum. This is also the first step in our long-term plan enable greater public access and unlocking research potential through a closer relationship with the University of Kent Special Collections, home to the British Cartoon Archive. As part of our ten-year collections masterplan we are developing, we aim to conduct a joint rationalisation project for our publications to ensure we’re complimenting each other’s collections and avoiding duplication.