Contribute to the National collection

The National Museum of Finland is a non-profit national cultural history museum that collects and preserves material and immaterial cultural heritage, and illustrates Finnish history, the characteristics of our national culture and cultures in other countries. The national collection is used for research, teaching, communication and exhibition purposes.

A significant portion of the National Museum’s artefacts has been received as donations, and the museum will continue to accept both single items and larger collections, based on its collections policy. We accept material pertaining to all time periods and social classes from anywhere in Finland. Objects from outside of Finland are also accepted into the Finno-Ugric and ethnographic collections.

The National Museum is committed to maintaining and preserving the cultural heritage it has stored according to the common international principles of museum ethics.

How can you contribute to the national collection?

Donation

• The ownership of, access to and control over an item is transferred to the museum without compensation.
• The museum will receive the item with its full ownership, copyright and other rights.  
• The donating party must be an eligible donor, i.e. the private individual, unpartitioned estate, organisation, foundation, company or other party in question must be entitled to make the donation.
• The museum is not obligated to accept donations against its will.

Will

• When accepting wills, the decision on whether a person’s last will can be fulfilled and if the bequeathed items are suitable for the museum’s collections is always made on a case-by-case basis.
• The museum may refuse to accept a bequest either partially or completely.

Purchase

• The ownership of and control over an item is transferred to the museum for a compensation.
• The reception terms are the same as with donations, but in addition the seller must confirm and agree to guarantee that they have the right to sell the item in question.

Here is what to do

• Contact the National Museum’s Collection and Research division using the contact information in the personnel directory of the Finnish Heritage Agency, see the link below.
• Make arrangements for a viewing or send a picture of the artefact.
• If the artefact is transferred over to the museum, a written agreement will be signed in duplicate.
• The National Museum will accept a limited amount of archive material or publications as part of object donations.

Any object offered to the museum must be in as perfect a condition as possible (no integral parts missing), but even with defects, an object may have museum value. You should not attempt to repair, patch, paint, wash, etc. the object before donating or selling it.

Information on the object’s manufacturing, acquisition, ownership and history of use, as well as any personal history related to it, will significantly increase the object’s museum value.

Contact information