It holds significant and diverse collections in areas such as zoology, anthropology, fine art, local and foreign archaeology and geology.

It is a National Portfolio Organisation under the Arts Council England-administered programme of strategic investment, which means it received funding from 2012 to 2015 to develop its services.

[2] His original plan called for a tall central tower like that at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, but that feature was rejected and was replaced by a gable and rose window.

[3] Initially proposed by Sir Stafford Northcote as a practical memorial to Prince Albert, an appeal fund was launched in 1861.

Designed by architects Allies and Morrison,[5] it included repair to the fabric of the building, refurbishment, a complete redisplay of the collections, an extension and a new entrance from the historic Registered gardens at the rear.

Significant artists represented in the collection include Gainsborough, Reynolds, Pompeo Batoni, Richard Wilson and Joseph Wright of Derby; Walter Sickert, Barbara Hepworth, John Nash, Edward Burra, David Bomberg and Patrick Heron.

[1] RAMM was named the United Kingdom's museum of the year by the Art Fund charity in 2012, citing its "ambition and imagination".