Our Collection

Our collection includes artefacts, documents, interviews and artworks relating to the town’s social, industrial, creative, military and maritime heritage. We have a growing collection of over 20,000 searchable, digitised photographs, some dating back as far as 1860, which can be viewed from a touch screen in the museum. In addition to what you can see on display in the museum, there are even more objects and documents in the museum’s stores.

We welcome people who want to use our archives and artefacts to research Newhaven’s history and people. Whether you are:

• an individual looking to research your family, your home or the area in general
• an artist looking for inspiration
• an author or historian researching for your latest work

Please contact us to see how we can help you. We have a library/research room and our volunteers will be on hand to assist you.

We regularly receive items that relate to our town’s heritage. These can be for our main collection, our photographic collection or our handling collection (for schools or interactive displays etc.). Please contact us before bringing anything to the museum, so we can ensure it is something we will be able to accept. We can only accept items that specifically relate to Newhaven. If we are unable to accept the items, we may be able to suggest an alternative museum that would love to receive it. In order for an item to be accepted into the collection you will need to complete and sign some paperwork confirming you are the owner of the item and transferring its ownership to the museum. We do not usually accept any items on loan.

If you have something that has a connection with the town that you would like to donate, we’d love to hear from you. The historical value of an object is enhanced by it’s story. So, when thinking about donating an object to the museum, we would like to know more about it. Who did it belong to? What was it used for? What is its connection with Newhaven?

If you are donating a photograph (whether a physical or digital one – we can scan the original), if possible please tell us who is in it, what their connection to Newhaven is and when and where the photograph was taken and who took it. This will help us ensure people will be able to find it when searching our photo database. When donating photographs, you will be assigning its copyright to the historical society. This means we will be able to use it in publications and on printed material, the internet and social media enabling more people to see it. People visiting the museum often want copies of photographs, we make a small charge for this to help cover our costs.