Current appeal
Help raise £110,000 towards the purchase of vital research equipment to help understand and prevent the deterioration of objects in the Museum's collection.
You can also donate on +44 (0)20 7323 8195
or text HPLC12 to 70070*
Andean textiles: an example of a Museum research project that would benefit from the support of the appeal.
Find out more
Scientists and conservators are researching the brilliantly coloured textiles represented in the Andean collections of the British Museum and Musée du Quai Branly in Paris.
Find out more
Members' open evening
19 March 2012, 18.15–21.00
Hear directly from some of the scientists and conservators at the Museum working on the project as part of the programme of talks at this event.
British Museum collection
Inca world culture
Nasca culture
A History of the World in 100 objects:
24. Paracas textile
Donate today and discover more
Only by using up-to-date equipment can the British Museum continue to push the boundaries of ethnography, art and socioeconomic history.
Help us take research at the British Museum to the next level by supporting the purchase of a high performance liquid chromatography system with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), a cutting-edge piece of equipment that will have a profound impact on our understanding of the origin, manufacture and trade history of a huge number of objects in the collection.
Research has always been at the heart of the British Museum’s work. That is why we are currently constructing the World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre (WCEC), an important new building opening next year that will house state-of-the-art laboratories and studios for the conservation and preservation of, and research into, the collection.
The highest quality facilities and world-class expertise are, however, just part of what it takes to gain new insights and the Museum must also acquire and maintain the cutting-edge specialist equipment required to take research to the next level.
It is for this reason that we need your help to raise £110,000 to purchase a HPLC-MS, which is vital to further our knowledge of the organic compounds that are found in the collections, including many types of food residues and colourants. This will have a profound impact on our understanding of the origin, manufacture and trade of a huge number of objects in the collection and has implications for research beyond the Museum. In addition, the analysis we can undertake with HPLC-MS allows us better to understand – and so prevent – the deterioration of objects in the collection.
Donate by 31 March 2012 and your name will appear under a message of thanks in the British Museum Friends’ Annual Review for 2011/12. If you would prefer to remain anonymous please call 020 7323 8195 and tell a representative from the Membership team.
Thank you for your support.
*Texts are charged at your mobile phone operator's standard rate. The Museum will receive 100% of your donation. Please note that donations made by text are through JustGiving, a third party which will not disclose data to the Museum. Please ensure that you donate by email or post if you would like us to know of your donation or to be acknowledged in the Annual Review.