Projects | National Museums Scotland

Close up of a section of paper scroll showing illustrations of people washing clothes and others sitting on a blanket under a tree eating.

Conserving Korean hanging scrolls

A project to conserve six Korean hanging scrolls all dating from the late Joseon Dynasty (1392 – 1910) is being generously supported by the National Museum of Korea.

Man sitting on a corrugated metal roof rolling a length of brown fabric. There are large, snowcapped mountains in the background.

Chitrali Shu

The mountainous region of Chitral in northern Pakistan is home to a pure woollen fabric called 'shu' or 'patti'. This project will document this living tradition through film and interviews.

Illustration of a yellow and blue fish.

Entangled Knowledges

Entangled Knowledges aims to highlight Menang Nyungar knowledge embedded in a historical fish collection held at National Museums Scotland and return this knowledge to the Menang community in Western Australia.

close-up of beadwork with a pattern of red and blue horizontal stripes and one white vertical crossing them all.

Reveal and Connect

Our collaborative project will publish a national review of African and Caribbean collections held in museums across Scotland, and establish a network of interests to encourage engagement with these collections.

A stone carving of an Egyptian figure's head wearing a headdress viewed from the side.

Buying Power: British Archaeology and the Antiquities Market in Egypt and Sudan 1880 - 1939

Investigating how archaeologists involved in British-led excavations in Egypt and Sudan engaged with the antiquities market between 1880 - 1939.

People and Plants

People and Plants will investigate the interplay between natural history and ethnography collections in museums, emphasising their value as material archives of indigenous ecological knowledge.

Exchange

Working with community groups to explore experiences of empire, migration, and life in Britain through National Museums Scotland collections.

A variety of small Ancient Egyptian statues of humans with arms crossed.

Egypt's Dispersed Heritage

Egypt's Dispersed Heritage Explore the legacies of the British archaeology in Egypt and the dialogue being created around these collections.

WITH Coastal Style

Revealing the Layers: the Umbrian Madonna and Child

Four alternating red and black flowers with leafs set against wavy white background. Black floral motifs separate white and red backgrounds.

Colouring the Nation

African Commemorative Textiles Project with Edinburgh College of Art

Scottish collectors and collecting in central Africa, 1870–1930

African Barkcloth

The Fabric of Life

Doctoral research projects

Shelves of a large group of old pottery behind a glass cabinet door.

Imagining ancient Egypt in the age of empire: Identity and power in Scottish museum displays of Egyptian objects, 1860 to 1930

Circular plate with a blue dragon figure in the center wit ha palm tree and landscape scenery in the background.

Shaping Taste, Building Knowledge: Collecting China in Scotland, in the early 20th Century

Two funnels against the white background from a crescent shaped ivory tusks.

Imagining the Pacific in Scotland in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries: Collectors and Collections, Museums and Universities

Square shaped purse decorated with blue and red flowers at the top, and six strawberries at the bottom. A red string attached to the top of thee purse, and three black tassels hang at the bottom of the purse.

Understanding colour in Renaissance embroidery: new analytical approaches

Tibetan Collections in Scottish Museums 1890-1930: A Critical Historiography of Missionary and Military Intent

Wooden trapezoid prism shaped box with three U shaped wooden sticks attached horizontally to the box. Numerous thread strings attached between the box and the vertical stick.

British Collecting in Ethiopia 1769 to 1960: Explorers, Missionaries, Military Expeditions, and Royal Gifting