Research

The Society's extensive Library and Museum collections provide invaluable facilities for people wishing to undertake research into the history, archaeology, art or natural history of Wiltshire, whether school children undertaking school projects, college students, graduates and post-graduate students preparing dissertations and theses or members of the public with general enquiries or personal projects including family history research.
The staff are always pleased to assist researchers and enquirers and to give access to the reserve collections of the Museum and Library as well as to provide information about them. While it is always best to visit the Museum and Library, the staff are happy to answer queries sent by post, e-mail or over the telephone. The Librarian is also able to undertake research on behalf of enquirers who are unable to visit the Museum, at a charge of £15.00 (plus VAT) per hour.


Research Charter
Academic Research support overview
Our collections are nationally-important, and we welcome the many researchers who wish to study them. In order to support your research, we encourage you to prepare your time visiting us well, as we can also prepare for your visit, making sure that your time and ours is spent effectively. The museum has a small staff, and issues such as exhibition schedules, project deadlines, holidays and staff illness can make it difficult or impossible for us to meet research requests at short notice. We will, however, help as much as we can.
Contacting the museum
Your query may be dealt with by different members of staff, so please use the general email address– wanhs@wiltshireheritage.org.uk or by letter
Making an appointment and length of notice required
Appointment in writing /email, normally with the following:-
• Email / letter of recommendation from your supervisor
• Brief project outline identifying a real research need
• Evidence that you have conducted preliminary research, including checking sources such as:-
• our collections database on the website
• our published museum catalogue.
• Wiltshire Historic Environment Record
• Where relevant, you should provide evidence that you are competent to handle sensitive collections
• Ideally 2 months notice
• Research in the library can usually be arranged at short notice, but please note the opening times of the library and that specialist research assistance is not always available, so if you have specific requests, please give as much notice as possible, particularly if you wish to see a large amount of material

Curatorial staff time available – 1.5FTE plus 05FTE librarian and archivist.
Average number of days spent researching the collections each year – 25 visits taking 40 days

Equipment and facilities available
• microscope
• computer, digital camera, copy stand
• electronic weighing scales
• calipers
• shared workspace – often in use for the continuing cataloguing/documentation project
• photocopier / scanner
• gloves
Restrictions on use of objects including destructive analysis and sampling
• any request for destructive analysis or sampling is considered by the Board of Trustees, and requires their approval
Loan arrangements
• any request for the loan of items from the collections is considered by the Board of Trustees, and requires their approval. Considerations include normal insurance, security and environment conditions
Access to related documentation
• extensive library and archive holdings relating to the history, archaeology and environment of the County, including full runs of major archaeological journals
• archaeological archive of excavations where this is extant, including photographs, plans and site notebooks
Access to stored objects
• by prior appointment only, particularly items on display
• all items retrieved on request
Facilities to browse collections
• collections documented on website, published catalogue
• Some sensitive categories of material are not listed on the website, contact the Curator for more information
Information researchers are expected to provide
• items should be identified in advance wherever possible by accession number, site name or by reference to published catalogues or reports
Handling restrictions
• Restrictions on handling fragile objects
Photography
• Extensive image library
• Photography allowed for private research; copyright and copies retained by museum
• Publication of photographs normally charged
• Any reproduction requires a credit to museum
Copy of research requested
• yes