The Collections
The ca. 75,000 items housed in the Brunel Institute make up one of the world’s leading maritime collections. The National Brunel Collection, created in collaboration with the University of Bristol, makes up possibly the most significant collection of Brunel materials anywhere.
The collection is comprehensive and diverse, from its oldest item, a 1703 book of naval tracts, to original logs, historic photographs, passenger diaries, and sketches and letters by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Beyond the historic collections there is also a vast research archive on 19th century maritime history, which is fully accessible to researchers, and an excellent maritime reference library which covers a wide range of maritime topics including naval architecture, shipbuilding, seamanship, and social and economic history of working and travelling at sea.
The team is continuously improving the catalogue records for the collections, archive and library. The catalogue can be searched online, and new items continue to be added. Details of individual collections are listed below.

Search the Collections
Individual Collections
