Visit The Brunel Institute

The Brunel Institute is one of the few academic archives in the world to offer access on demand. Anyone with an interest in maritime history, the SS Great Britain or Isambard Kingdom Brunel can view and explore the collections.

Institute staff and volunteers are available to advise and guide visitors. Whether you are writing an academic paper or researching family members who travelled on the SS Great Britain or would like to see a letter or drawing in Brunel’s hand, the Institute has something to delight you.

Opening Times

The Brunel Institute is open Wednesdays to Fridays, as well as the first two Saturdays of every month, between 10.30am and 4.30pm. We are located adjacent to the Visitor Centre and front entrance to the site, and everyone is welcome to visit. Access to the Institute is free and no ticket to the museum site is required to access the library and collections centre.

 

For more information on how to find us, click here.

Accessing the Collection

The Institute is free to visit and during our opening times we welcome everyone who would like to use the library or have a quick tour to find out about what we do.

We only have limited spaces for researchers available each day, so wherever possible please do contact the team before your visit if you would like to access the historic collection and archive. To get in touch with the collections team, please email us on collections@ssgreatbritain.org. To view the collection, you will need to bring a form of identification which shows your current address (e.g. UK driving license, or a utility bill which is less than three months old).

Group Tours

Tours of the Brunel Institute for groups are available and can be booked here.