Kent Archaeological Society encourages the study and use of the collections by researchers. An appointment must be arranged before your visit. Appointments have to be booked at least 4 weeks in advance and the Society reserves the right to temporarily close access to collections if staff are not available or there are practical reasons for restricting access.

Please note: The Curator will judge requests to examine objects on a case-by-case basis and may sometimes refuse access. They will base their decision on the nature of the research, the condition of the object(s), the availability of the object(s), and any appropriate legal, ethical or health and safety concerns.  Some collections can also be temporarily unavailable for a number of reasons, when contacting us please be specific about your interests and the items you wish to view. It is not always possible to browse through a large number of items, in most cases, a maximum of 10 artefacts per enquiry. Non-academic artefact viewing appointments may be limited to 30 minutes based on staff availability to facilitate.

To make an appointment, please contact the Curator (curator@kentarchaeology.org.uk), giving a minimum of 4 weeks’ notice. Appointments are available Wednesday and Fridays 9am – 4pm. All visits must be facilitated by a member of KAS Staff and in some cases researchers may be requested to provide references.  If you subsequently have to cancel an appointment, please let us know with at least 1 week notice.

The research visit

On arrival, research visitors will be asked to sign the Visitors’ Book with their name, address/institution and reason for visit.

Visitors must abide by any conditions relating to handling outlined by the supervising member of staff. All visitors handling objects will be expected to wear gloves. These will be provided by the Society. Researchers must use pencils for note taking. Pens, biros, felt tips, solvent based fixing sprays, and wet painting materials etc. are not permitted.

Museum staff reserve the right to search visitors bags and vehicles.  Smoking is not permitted in any part of the building. Eating and drinking is only permitted in areas dedicated to that purpose. No onsite visitor parking is available.

Kent Archaeological Society will endeavour to make the information about the collections accessible to researchers. Access will be restricted to sensitive collections information including valuation, location and some donor information. Any information supplied is only an opinion and not an authentication.

All researchers are requested to provide copies of their research (whether published or unpublished) pertaining to items in the collections, to add to the catalogue information.

Please be aware that it may not be possible to reproduce certain collections because of copyright legislation, handling restrictions or other reasons. Reproductions must also not be published, including on the internet.

Commercial reproduction requests should be submitted deputy manager for consideration.

Identification requirements

On your first visit you must bring two forms of identification, proof of your name with signature/photo and proof of address. Please note that documents need to be originals, copies are not acceptable. The Society will not make copies of these documents.