Provision of Archaeology Services in Gloucester

The Museum of Gloucester and its collections are owned and managed by Gloucester City Council. The Museum has operated from its current premises on Brunswick Road since 1896, though the collections are first mentioned in 1838 under the care of various scientific and literary groups. The Museum looks after over 750,000 objects covering archaeology, social history, natural history, geology, numismatics, fine and decorative arts.

Gloucester is one of the most important archaeological sites in the southwest of England showing potentially continuous human settlement from the late Iron Age or early Roman period to the present day.

The Museum of Gloucester is the collecting museum for archaeological archives in Gloucester District and parts of Tewkesbury Borough as defined by the Gloucestershire Archaeological Archives Standard (GAAS). Prior to 2017 and the confirmation of GAAS, the Museum accepted archaeological archives from other areas across Gloucestershire

As a result, the museum holds extensive unsorted archaeological archives including documentary, drawn and photographic records, 'bulk' assemblages and small finds. Archives are held in the former Archaeology Office, the New Art Store, the Deposition Room, the Library Basement (consisting of 4 separate store spaces), Museum Basement and two Eastgate Market stalls stores.

Requirements

Gloucester City Council requires a suitable contractor to undertake the reviewing and rationalising of the archaeological archives and public engagement with the aims of improved archive curation, increased storage space and increased public engagement with the archaeology collections. More details regarding the specifications and requirements can be found in Section 6.