Museums, libraries and archives

Museums, libraries and archives

Museums, libraries and archives
Museums, libraries and archives tell the stories of our cultural heritage.

Through preservation, exhibition and community engagement, they can bring collections, places and ideas to life. They help us to understand culture, science and history, and give us a sense of place, identity and community.

Thanks to National Lottery players, since 1994 we have awarded £2.5billion to 6,000 museum, library, archive and collection-based projects across the UK. See stories from projects we've funded below.

What do we support?

We provide grants for heritage projects from £10,000–£10million for projects led by or featuring museums, libraries and archives.

Our funding supports institutions large and small, including:

  • national, local authority and independent museums, libraries and archives
  • historic libraries
  • community archives and oral history collections
  • institutions with heritage collections

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

  • create exciting new exhibition and learning spaces
  • attract new and more diverse audiences
  • acquire new items and develop collections
  • improve organisational resilience

For more inspiration, see the stories below or browse projects we've funded.

How to get funding

Our National Lottery Heritage Grants programme is open for applications.

Visitors enjoying an exhibit at Narberth Museum

Projects

Restoration Bonded Stores

After closing its doors to the public and putting its collection into storage, funding from Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Welsh Government enabled the trust to restore this historic building.

Children looking at a museum display of geological collections
Children look at a museum display of geological collections

Projects

Rock Band: the UK's geological heritage

Five museums and heritage organisations in the south east of England found new ways to engage audiences with their geological collections.

Volunteers at the Ice Age hunting site Farndon Fields

Projects

Farndon Fields Palaeolithic Project

FARI archaeology, a constituted community group, applied for this grant to investigate, record, and protect an internationally important Ice Age hunting site.

Children in a Manchester Museum classroom

Projects

Nature and Me

The Nature and Me project aimed to create new education and participation opportunities focused on biodiversity and the natural world.

Beth mae treftadaeth yn ei olygu i mi: David Anderson

Blogs

What heritage means to me: David Anderson

In celebration of St Fagans National Museum of History and the largest grant ever given by the HLF in Wales, here’s the Museum’s Director General sharing with us what heritage means to him.

If you query is regarding our application portal, please contact our support team.