We are a free museum and our mission is to offer access to all to our town’s history.

Giving Us Objects

The majority of the items in the museum have been donated. We are very grateful to those who give their treasures and important objects to add to our collection but we have to be very careful that we only accept objects which meet our Collections Policy.

What is a Collections Policy?

A Collections Policy sets out the types of object a museum will accept into it’s collection: if museums accepted all objects that they were offered they would not be able to meet their responsibilities to preserve their history as they would lack the space or money to store and conserve each item properly.

Newton Abbot Museum’s Collection Policy

We have more than 17,000 accessioned objects, documents and photographs focusing on the rich social history of Newton Abbot and surrounding villages, most of which have been donated by local people. The collections fall into two main groups, with artefacts illustrating:

• The social history of Newton Abbot and environs.
• Great Western Railway (GWR) history which includes the social history of the GWR and the influence the railways had on the town and the people of Newton Abbot.

Accordingly we can only accept items that tell a story of Newton Abbot and it’s surrounding area, or help us explore the GWR and it’s connections to Newton Abbot.

If you are thinking about donating an object, the best thing to do is to take a photograph of your item and fill out this form

Please note: objects left at the museum without making an appointment with the curator to discuss, will be treated as lost property. We cannot take responsibility for objects left in this manner.

Monetary Donations

We have a box at the Front Desk for small cash donations

You can send us a donation via paypal to [email protected] (make sure its sent as a gift- if you use ‘goods and services’ paypal will take a percentage and we won’t get all of your kind donation).

If you are thinking of leaving a donation in your Will, or would like to send a cheque contact us for further information

Money recieved through donations is added to the Newton Abbot Museum Support Fund which is purely spent on preserving and interpreting the town’s history for future generations.

Your Time

One of the most valuable donations we receive is the thousands of hours given annually by our wonderful volunteers. If you are interesting in joining you can find out more here.

THANK YOU for considering giving to the Museum!