Collecting Policy
MCC actively acquires items for the Museum, Library and Archive and welcomes approaches from those wishing primarily to donate but also, in certain circumstances, lend or sell items. The general themes of the collections are as follows:
- Origin and early development of the game,
- Developments in Laws, Grounds, equipment and technology
- Fashion and social trends in cricket
- The commercialisation of the game
- Broadcasting and the place of the spectator in cricket
- The depiction of cricket through the fine and decorative arts including photography
- Cricket Literature
- Role and development of MCC and Lord’s
- Women’s Cricket
- The history of Middlesex Cricket Club
- The Cricket Tour
- The Cricket World Cup
- The origin and development of the Ashes
- Wisden Cricketers of the Year
- Players named on the Lord’s Honours Boards
If you are interested in donating to the museum, library or archive please do contact the department at mcclibrary@mcc.org.uk with full details of the item(s) including photographs and measurements as appropriate.
Loans
MCC believes in making its collections as widely available as possible. It actively considers requests to borrow from institutions large and small and all those, both in the UK and overseas, who are seeking to create displays or exhibitions that will contribute to knowledge and understanding of the game.
The Museum, Library and Archive lend items every year in accordance with its Loans Policy which provides further information on the broad principles governing loans from the collection.
Valuations
MCC does not provide commercial valuations of memorabilia or fine or decorative art associated with cricket. Should you require a valuation, please see the following links which may be useful:
knights.co.uk
grahambuddauctions.co.uk
mullocksauctions.co.uk
cricket-books.com
mckenzie-cricket.co.uk
boundarybooks.com
nickpotter.com
Conservation
As the largest collection of its type dedicated to cricket in the world MCC is often asked about conservation of particular items. Whilst at present we do not have extensive advice on-line we are able to assist in certain circumstances; please e-mail mcclibrary@mcc.org.uk in the first instance.
We do hope to be able to publish advice via the website at regular intervals in the future.
Partners & Networks
As one of the World’s leading Sports History Collections we have worked with a number of partners on a wide variety of projects.
The primary point of contact in the UK for Sports Heritage is available at sportingheritage.org.uk.
Oral History
The David Rayvern Allen Audio Archive is the centrepiece of MCC activities in the field of Oral History. It contains well over 300 recorded interviews with figures associated with cricket, MCC and Lord’s from all over the world. Access to these interviews is by appointment at the MCC Library.
In association first with the University of Glamorgan and then the University of Falmouth, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council, MCC broadened the scope of its oral history activities to activities with grass roots cricket clubs across the UK and in Sri Lanka. The results of these projects - including downloadable tool kits for recording Club history - are available by clicking here.
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