Collections
Welcome to the Collections section of the Sedgwick Museum website. This section is open to all but is primarily aimed at those wanting to use the Museum’s collections for research and study purposes. Here you will find information that will help you to plan your research enquiry or visit.
The Museum's Collections
The Museum collections are maintained primarily for research purposes; they contain material referenced in scientific and humanities research literature and include material used for research in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, including postgraduate theses.
9,400 rocks, minerals, fossils and archaeological artefacts donated to the University of Cambridge in 1728 by Dr John Woodward.
Approximately 1,000,000 fossils from the UK and the rest of the world. It includes about 9,000 primary types and 32,000 figured and cited specimens mostly from the UK.
Over 160,000 igneous and metamorphic rocks from the UK and the rest of the world with approximately 250,000 associated thin sections. The collection includes an additional 114,000 sedimentary rocks and other petrological material.
Approximately 55,000 minerals, mostly of historic interest. The collection includes over 600 meteorites actively used in research.
J. Watson Building and Decorative Stone Collection
A collection of 2,500 building stones, decorative stones and other building materials.
A collection of about 60,000 rocks fossils and cores from the Svalbard Archipelago, Greenland.
Approximately 900 archive boxes of material relating to the Sedgwick Museum, its staff, collections and donors including original manuscript catalogues of many collections gifted to or purchased by the Museum. It also includes the archives of the Sedgwick Club, the world’s oldest student run geological society.
The Museum holds a small collection of artworks, predominantly portraits and busts depicting key figures in the history of the Museum and Department of Earth Sciences.
Facilities and Services
The Sedgwick Museum's collections are split across 2 sites. The petrology and
mineralogy collections and the Archive are predominantly held at the Collections Research Centre in West Cambridge while the palaeontology collections are partly held at the Collections Research Centre and partly in the main museum building. If you are visiting the collections, check with museum staff which site(s) are appropriate and please make sure you have allowed time to visit both sites if necessary.
Our facilities and services:
- Free access to bench space
- Access to petrological & palynological microscopes
- Loans for remote study and non-destructive imaging and analysis
- Loans for destructive sampling such as making thin sections or taking samples for analysis (subject to authorisation).
- Provision of reference images of objects (we are unable to offer publication quality images)
- On site accommodation (subject to availability)