RESEARCH RESOURCES

Our Collection

Tate holds the national collection of British art from 1500 to the present day and international modern and contemporary art.

British art is represented by artists chosen for their contribution to its history and development, rather than their nationality alone. The collection continues to expand its holdings of modern and contemporary art from around the world.

Researchers can use our website pages Art & Artists to access collection texts. These short texts and catalogue entries provide detailed, research-led information about the history, making and meanings of works in the collection. The same pages include live details on a work’s location, including if it is on loan or in storage. Works on loan can be visited at the host institution. Visits to view works in storage may be possible. Please email Tate Store for further details.

Tate Archive and Public Records

The Tate Archive was founded in 1970 and holds the world’s largest collection of archives relating to British art, with over 1,000 individual archive collections represented. Tate Archive collections contain over a million items related to artists, art world figures and art organisations in Britain: including artists’ personal papers, institutional records, letters, writings, sketchbooks, and maquettes; recordings and photographs of artists, their studios, and installation shots; and artist-designed posters. 

Tate public records trace the history of Tate from 1897 to the mid-1990s currently, focussing on core activities such as exhibitions and displays, acquisitions, learning and the expansion of the institution from the original gallery at Millbank to the opening of the other three galleries.

The Tate Archive and Public Records catalogue is available to search and you can also browse more than 80,000 digitised pieces from Tate Archive via the website. 

For support with access to archival materials or public records, please email reading.rooms@tate.org.uk. 

Tate Library

Tate Library is a centre of excellence for art-historical research, with its holdings including more than half a million publications on British art since 1500, and international art since 1900. This includes catalogues, books, journals, ephemera, and electronic resources. Special Collections comprise artists' books, artists' magazines, photobooks, zines, and ephemera, as well as other rare and valuable publications by artists, and historical collections. Library collections​ can be accessed onsite via the Library Reading Rooms at Tate Britain as well as via its remote services. 

You can search or browse for items in the Tate Library collection using the online Library catalogue. The Tate Library collections can be accessed onsite via the Reading Rooms at Tate Britain. The Library and Archive Reading Rooms opening hours are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 11.00-17.00. To book an appointment email reading.rooms@tate.org.uk. See the Library and Archive access policy here.

Tate Britain Prints and Drawings Rooms are accessible by appointment to view drawings, prints and more from Tate's collection not currently on display in the galleries, email: studyroom@tate.org.uk.

Conservation Science laboratories and expertise

Tate maintains facilities to enable the scientific examination of art works to better understand their history and conservation, which are sometimes used by other National Museums and others to support their research. New Conservation Science Laboratories, funded by AHRC, opened in May 2021, supporting us to deliver innovative heritage science research that is both interdisciplinary and highly collaborative. We have expertise in an extraordinary range of cutting-edge research, including work in low oxygen framing and microfading for the preservation of fugitive works of art on paper; contributions to important research into the deterioration of modern plastics; studies to help collections manage indoor pollutants; ground breaking work on the use of nano technologies for the cleaning of modern paintings; and a sector-leading contribution to developing treatments for acrylic paintings and modern oils which has been shared internationally. For more information on our labs and equipment please contact us.

Tate Papers journal

Tate is a leader in the field of online research publication. Tate Papers, the museum’s flagship peer reviewed academic journal has an annual readership of approximately 250,000 per year. Leading specialists from around the world contribute to Tate Papers, as do researchers working at Tate, and the journal aims to showcase a range of disciplinary approaches to the study of art and museums.

Shared research repository

Tate is a member of the Shared Research Repository for cultural and heritage organisations hosted by the British Library. The repository aims to increase the visibility and impact of research, making the knowledge generated by cultural institutions easier to find and explore. The repository will provide free and open access and is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).  You can access Tate’s research at https://tate.iro.bl.uk/.