The Oxfordshire County Museums Service operates from the Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, and the Oxfordshire Museums Store, Standlake. The service is governed and funded by Oxfordshire County Council within a department of Cultural Services and works in partnership with Oxford City Council and the District Councils in Oxfordshire.

The service cares for approximately 600,000 objects ranging from geology and natural history to fine art. It is the official repository of archaeology from Oxfordshire and holds historical collections of regional quality. The collections are exhibited and interpreted at the Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, and through bilateral agreements at museums in Oxford, Banbury, Abingdon, Witney and Wantage. All the museums are fully Registered In total more than 350,000 visitors annually enjoy these collections.

The service is also responsible for a number of historic sites and buildings: Swalcliffe Barn, Swalcliffe; the Bishop of Winchester's Palace site, Witney; Charney Basset Mill; and the kiln, Nettlebed.

Educational programmes are provided at the Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, and the Oxfordshire Museums Store, Standlake; these include opportunities to learn more about the collections and to study the environment, natural history and human history of Oxfordshire. Programmes are devised for children, families and for people of all ages. Clubs for children interested in archaeology and arts and crafts operate from the Oxfordshire Museum. Outreach activities aim to encourage non users to take an interest in museum services.

The Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, is supported by an active Friends society with a membership of about 250 people. The Friends assist the museum through voluntary effort, fund raising and social activities. The Friends of the Oxfordshire Museum is a registered charity.

The Oxfordshire County Museums Service works closely with the other heritage services provided by Oxfordshire County Council, particularly the Oxfordshire Record Office and the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies. The Record Office is responsible for manuscripts and original archival materials for the County and Diocese; the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies holds printed books and leaflets, newspapers, maps, photographs and oral history collections. County Archaeological Services, the Sites and Monuments Record and the County Biological Records are also managed as part of these services.

FAMOS, The Friends of Archives Museums and Oxfordshire Studies, supports all the heritage services countywide and is a registered charity.

A very brief history of the Oxfordshire County Museums Service:

The service was founded in 1963 initially as the Oxford City and County Museum. Its initial aims were to collect material to illustrate the way of life of ordinary people in Oxfordshire and to develop an education service particularly for schools. A schools loan collection was built up and grew to provide a selection of more than 2000 boxed collections of artefacts which were delivered on a fortnightly basis to schools throughout Oxfordshire. The first County Sites and Monuments Record in Britain was created in the City and County Museum - a model followed in due course by other local authorities. In 1969 the County Council purchased Cogges Manor Farm in Witney to become a new museum of farming..

Following local government reorganisation in 1974 the Oxfordshire County Museum Service was established. In 1975 joint management agreements were established for museums in Abingdon, Banbury and Wantage. The Museum of Oxford was opened in 1975 and quickly established itself as a major new facility interpreting the history of the City and its links with the University. In 1978 Cogges Manor Farm Museum was opened to the public.

In 1991 the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies was created, bringing together collections from the local studies library and museums. Public use of the resources trebled. The Oxfordshire Museums Store was built in 1993, uniting under one roof the reserve collections, conservation and workshop staff and facilities and documentation. It provides 1500 square metres of high quality storage space. The County Museums Service helped twelve small independent museums in Oxfordshire to achieve Registered status by providing curatorial advisers. Abingdon Museum was comprehensively redisplayed in 1994 (Civic Trust Award); the restoration of the historic buildings at Cogges Manor Farm was completed in 1996 (Interpret Britain Award).

In 1998, following Government restrictions on local authority spending, the County Council reduced its expenditure on museums and new arrangements were put in place with the District Councils. A new joint committee of representatives from the County and District Councils, Area Museums Council, independent museums and Friends groups now coordinates the service and advises each local authority.

The Vale and Downland Museum was redisplayed in 1999 and the Oxfordshire Museum in 2000. The Record Office was rehoused in St Luke's Church, Cowley in 2000. A new museum for Banbury will open in 2001.