Over many years, Bradford Museums, Galleries & Heritage have built, conserved and made available to the public a range of important collections. Through these collections we can learn a lot about the lives of Bradford‘s communities, old and new, and the natural and industrial heritage of the Bradford District. Our buildings allow us to display and interpret only a fraction of the thousands of items we hold. This part of the website enables you to explore a database of the collections, and find out about some of the items that may not be on public display.

The collections are divided into different subject areas. At present this database is restricted to photographs held by the Bradford Heritage Recording Unit, whose work is explained via the menu on the left. We are currently working on making other collections available through this website.

Each item in our collections is given a unique number called an Accession Number, and information about the object and its history is entered onto a record identified with that number. Thousands of these records are held in the database available here. Most of them contain a photograph of the item together with background information. You can search for items by entering words in the General Search box. We have also organised our records into different types or categories, which you can explore by using the Subject Type or Subject Name options. Using these methods may be useful if you cannot find what you want by using the General Search. If you need advice on how to use these options please use the Help button. If you intend to download or publish any of this material please read our terms and conditions before doing so.

We have also organised some of our most popular material into a series of mini–tours, which can also be accessed from the menu to the left.