Aims
The National Inventory Research Project aims to help museums research and catalogue their collections and to present catalogue data on a publicly accessible website. It is concerned in the first instance with non-British Continental oil paintings between 1200 and 1900 in UK public collections.
The 2001 report Renaissance in the Regions highlighted the need for research into regional collections and for increased collaboration between regional museums, national museums and universities. The National Inventory project is a significant example of the way such partnerships can further the ambitions of Regional Hubs, which are charged with implementing the recommendations of Renaissance in the Regions.
The project will dramatically increase public access to information about Britain's public art collections. It will be a major contribution to the realisation of national and regional cultural policies on improving access to our national heritage, and with life long learning. It will raise the national and international profile of many regional collections and encourage further research into them, and their use in exhibitions and publications.
Phases
The National Inventory Research Project was initiated by the National Gallery, London, in liaison with colleagues in other national and regional collections. The project is intended to address two issues:
- the decline in collection research in UK museums
- the lack of publicly accessible information about collections especially in regional museums
The first phase of the project will be devoted to 22,000 Continental European oil paintings of the period 1200-1900 in over 200 public collections in the UK. An illustrated, searchable, web database will be made publicly accessible through the Arts and Humanities Data Service
The project has received widespread support within the museum community in the UK Over 130 museums and galleries have already agreed to support the project by contributing catalogue data to it. Many of these have agreed to host project researchers.
Management of the project
NIRP is managed by a Steering Committee representing national, regional and university art collections throughout the UK. It is being implemented by a partnership between the Steering Committee, Birkbeck, University of London, the University of Glasgow, the AHDS and the Public Catalogue Foundation.
The project recently negotiated a merger with the PCF and the two projects will share a central database and co-ordinate their data gathering activities.
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