Our research, programming and partnerships
We are a place to explore and debate what home means.
We do this by creating exhibitions, events, collaborations, research and debates that shine a light on important issues and fulfil our mission to reveal and rethink ideas on home.
Collaborative research
We work with partners throughout the world and have collaborations across the UK to support ground-breaking research into the meaning of home, past, present and future.
Centre for Studies of Home
The Centre for Studies of Home is an international hub for collaborative research, knowledge exchange and dissemination activities on the study of home.
The centre is a partnership between the Museum of the Home and Queen Mary University of London.
Research includes everyday domestic life, material cultures, architecture and design. Projects also look at the significance of home beyond the domestic, investigating ideas about dwelling, belonging, privacy and security.
The co-directors are Sonia Solicari, Director at the Museum of the Home and Alison Blunt, Professor of Geography at Queen Mary University of London.
Please email studiesofhome@qmul.ac.uk to join the mailing list.
Histories of Home Subject Specialist Network
The Subject Specialist Network (SSN) for Histories of Home is based at the Museum.
It is a network for academics, archivists, museum professionals and postgraduate students to promote the study of the home.
The concept of home is considered in its broadest sense. It includes not only the physical spaces and material objects of home but also ideas, dynamics and experiences of home within and beyond the domestic sphere.
Scholars and practitioners come from many fields including design history, gender studies, social history and material culture studies.
Progressive programming
We will share diverse, thought-provoking and personal stories of home through our exhibitions, events, debates and learning programme.
Our programming will explore contemporary and historic themes, and embrace unexpected collaborations and exciting experiences.
Partnerships
We are partnering with a diverse range of emerging and established artists, designers and performers to create new and unique works that reflect the theme of home.
We have active community programmes with local Vietnamese and Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. And we have an annual Feel Good Festival which we produce with our community partners.
We are building charitable partnerships to enable our Live Better Together programme of consultation, collaboration and co-curation.
Collecting
We have a collection of around 40,000 objects including library and archives. The collection is mainly everyday domestic objects dating from 1600 to the present day.
One of our flagship collecting programmes is Documenting Homes which has been running since 2007. Through Documenting Homes we collect contemporary stories of home, through photographs, questionnaires and oral testimony.
Our collecting development policy will expand to cover collections that represent a broader cultural story of home.
Loans
We have made the vast majority of our collections available for other museums and cultural institutions to borrow.
We wish for others to use our diverse array of objects and unique stories to enrich and inform in a variety of ways. We have a flexible approach to lending which means our collection is as accessible as possible to institutions looking to borrow.
You can browse our collections online.
If you are interested in borrowing, please get in touch with us at curatorial@museumofthehome.org.uk so we can discuss the availability of objects and arrange a visit to examine the objects in person.
Please make any formal requests for loans, no sooner than six months before the start of the loan period.
Comfort Furniture
In 2022, the Artquest Unlocking the Collection residency at Museum of the Home supported an artist in developing their practice through research. Watch this short film by artist resident Elora Kadir, pondering our relationships to the objects in our home and comfort as a lens to view disability and accessibility.