The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery wants to keep a dress fastener discovered in 2023 in Ellastone.
The Brighton museum says it will upgrade its gallery with more displays of exotic plants and animals.
The 600 objects from a historical collection in Bristol were of "very, very significant" cultural value.
The museums in the running for the annual title and its £120,000 prize are announced.
Titanic experts are inviting people to share any connections and items related to the ill-fated ship
The service is due to reopen in May as work continues at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.
Internal works at The Light in Durham can now begin ahead of its reopening in the summer.
The museum, which shut last year, will now open on Wednesdays until August, with hopes to extend.
The money is part of the government's £1.5bn Arts Everywhere Fund.
