British Optical Association Museum
The College of Optometrists is the custodian of the British Optical Association Museum, the premier optical collection in the country and believed to be the oldest of its type in the world (founded 1901). The collection comprises historic spectacles and lenses, pince-nez, opera glasses, contact lenses, opticians' equipment, orthoptic devices, models of eye disease and the representation of all these subjects in art: paintings, prints and sculpture. The BOA Library has an outstanding collection of books on optics and the workings of the human eye from the sixteenth century to the present. For more information visit www.college-optometrists.org/museum
The BOA Museum also features in our Learning section and our Family History section
Museum Details
The College of Optometrists
42 Craven Street
London
WC2N 5NG
Tel. 020 7766 4353
The Museum is open to the public by appointment only, 09:30-17:00 Monday-Friday.
Closed on weekends, Bank Holidays and on some other occasions due to College events. See our appointments to visit page for a list of the dates that are not available.
Assistance and facilities offered to visiting researchers by appointment with the Curator.
Free admission, donations welcome.
Building Tours for groups or individuals also offered at a modest charge of £5 per person.
Other Information
Disabled access: One step up to front door; Museum floors accessible by lift. Library on ground floor. 
Charing Cross. We are also easily reached from Waterloo Station via the Hungerford Foot Bridge.
Charing Cross (Northern Line, Bakerloo Line), Embankment (Northern Line, Bakerloo Line, District Line, Circle Line).
Numerous buses serve Trafalgar Square, Northumberland Avenue, Embankment and The Strand.
Latest News from the BOA Museum
Temporary Exhibition: A Feast For The Eyes (until Spring 2010)
Learn all about eye nutrition and take away a copy of our free recipe sheet to help you eat right for your eyesight.
Temporary Exhibition: Who is Blind? (until further notice)
What does the word 'blind' actually mean and is it in fact our attitude towards the visually impaired that deserves the label? This exhibition can only be viewed as part of our Building Tours. To coincide with it, the permanent display also features a miscellany of collecting boxes and other paraphenalia connected with the Guide Dogs for the Blind charity.
Explore our collections in our searchable online catalogue: www.musEYEum.org
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I recommend their Open House Event 1 August 2009
This museum's 'Open House' event held on one Sunday every September is a real pleasure to attend. It's so nice to meet people who are so enthusiastic about collections and really know their stuff about the subject. You get to see elsewhere in the beautiful College building too. I've been twice in recent years and heartily recommend it.
- Click for more information:
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- Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives & Museum
- BDA Dental Museum
- British Optical Association Museum
- British Red Cross Museum & Archives
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- Foundling Museum
- Freud Museum
- Great Ormond Street Hospital Museum
- Museum of the Order of St John
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- Royal College of Physicians Museum
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- Museum of Royal Pharmaceutical Society
- Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garret
- Royal London Hospital Museum & Archives
- Science Museum
- St Bartholomew's Hospital Museum & Archives
- Veterinary Museum
- Wellcome Collection
- Wellcome Library
- Worshipful Society of Apothecaries