The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has had a museum collection
since 1842. The 45,000 items collected since then cover all aspects of British
pharmacy history. They include:
The Museum began as a materia medica collection, rather than collecting historical items. Most of this original collection is now cared for as part of the Economic Botany Collection at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Click here to transfer to their website for more information.
Click here to find out more about the Museum’s current exhibitions
During 2010, the Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has been heavily involved in the research and filming of the BBC2 series Victorian Pharmacy. A selection of objects from the Museum’s collection and Briony Hudson, Keeper of the Museum Collections, were both filmed for the series. Click here to transfer to a dedicated page with more information about the series and how the Museum can support you in finding out more about Victorian pharmacy history.
The museum displays on the ground floor are open to all visitors, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. There are further displays on the first floor and these can be viewed as part of a guided tour.
Contact details:
Tel: 020 7572 2210Click here for a downloadable map and directions to the Society's main headquarters.
There is level access to all parts of the museum displays and partially adapted toilet facilities. There is large print exhibition text available on request from the front desk.
If you have any special access requirements, we would be happy to discuss them before your visit to make it as enjoyable as possible.
We offer an historical research service based on the information,
archives and objects held by the museum. For more information and details
of other research services provided see Services.
If you are a researcher, student, teacher, or simply interested in pharmacy history, we have a wide range of online resources to provide you with ways to find out more. Click here to find our information sheets, downloadable schools resources, and information about our schools loans boxes.
The majority of items in the collections are kept off-site safely stored for future generations. If you would like to see any objects or images from our collections, please contact us to make an appointment.
A separate collection of Scottish historical material is maintained at the Scottish Department in Edinburgh.
As an Accredited Museum, we have an Acquisitions and Disposals Policy that governs what we collect, how we collect and how we dispose of items, alongside the ethical, legal and organisational framework within which these procedures operate. For more information about donating objects to the Museum's collections, click here.
