A circular shell pendant from Oceania with a white outer disk and brown inner disc. The brown disc is carved with intricate designs.
Collections reviews

Pacific collections in Scottish Museums

Pacific collections in Scottish Museums: Unlocking their knowledge and potential is a partnership project supported by the Museums Association Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund. It ran from April 2013 to December 2014 and aimed to reconnect dispersed Pacific collections held in museums across Scotland, and their histories.

The core partner museums were National Museums Scotland, Aberdeen University Museums, Glasgow Museums, and Perth Museum & Art Gallery. The team studied Pacific collections in all four museums, documenting stories that emerged both within and across the collections.

Previous reviews revealed significant material from the Pacific in Scottish museums and gave details of the quantity and location of collections. You can see the results of these here:

UNESCO survey of Oceania collections in UK and Ireland (1979)

A Wider World: Collections of foreign ethnography in Scotland (1994)

This project wanted to take that information further, drawing out stories of quantity, quality, significance and uniqueness. It also aimed to develop and implement a new method for collections knowledge transfer between a new curator, current collections staff and subject experts.

The outcomes from the project can be found on this website. You can navigate Pacific Collections in Scotland to find out about material held by the project partners as well as several other Scottish museums. You can also explore the Introduction to Pacific Collections.  These resources are aimed at anyone interested in developing their knowledge of working with Pacific collections.

Throughout the project we shared some of the stories that emerged on our Pacific Collections Review blog

Pacific collections by region

Pacific collections at the University of Aberdeen Museums

The University of Aberdeen’s ethnographic collections from the Pacific reflect the activities of travellers, collectors and alumni from Aberdeen. There are around 3000 items, the majority of which are from Papua New Guinea.
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Pacific collections at National Museums Scotland

There are around 5000 Pacific objects in the World Cultures collection of National Museums Scotland.
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Pacific collections at Perth Museum and Art Gallery

The World Cultures collection of Perth Museum and Art Gallery has its origins with the Perth Literary and Antiquarian Society and was substantially amassed in the nineteenth century.
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Pacific regions

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world’s oceans, covering about one third of the Earth. The vast expanse of water is scattered with more than 20,000 islands.
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Pacific collections at Glasgow Museums

Glasgow Museums Pacific collection contains just over 3000 objects from across the region collected from the late 18th century to the present day, including a significant number of rare or unique artefacts of historical interest.
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Other Scottish collections

As well as looking at over 11,000 artefacts in the four partner museums, the project team visited some of the other collections of Pacific material across Scotland.
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