Royal College of Music Museum of Instruments

The Museum houses an internationally renowned collection of 800 instruments and accessories from c.1480 to the present (700 European, keyboard, stringed and wind; 100 Asian and African). Gifts since the foundation of the College in 1883 include important collections from the Rajah S.M.Tagore (1884), the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII (1886), Sir George Donaldson (1894), A.J.Hipkins (1911), E.A.K.Ridley (1968), Geoffrey Hartley (1985), Crispian Steele Perkins (2003) and Freddy Hill (2005). The collection was re-housed in a new museum in 1970, made possible by the generosity of Trusts and donors.
The Museum is now part of the RCM's Centre for Performance History, formed in 2004. Other areas of the centre include collections of oil paintings, prints, photographs, concert programmes and other paper-based material.

Collection details

Music