A collage featuring a range of artifacts and specimens from the Manitoba Museum Collections.

Collections

At the core of the Manitoba Museum’s mission is the extensive collection of artifacts and specimens developed, documented, and cared for by a team of curators, collections staff, and conservators. The Museum also maintains a library and institutional archive, including an ever-growing collection of contemporary oral histories. 

The Manitoba Museum collections are a rich and diverse representation of the province’s human and natural history. Collections are divided into overarching disciplines, each with a dedicated curator who is supported by collections and conservation staff. The Human History collection is comprised of Archaeology, History, Anthropology, and the Hudson’s Bay Company Museum Collection. The Natural History collection includes Botany, Paleontology & Geology, and Zoology. The Museum collections are a vital resource for researchers, scientists, and museums in Canada and around the world. They are the pillar for our many long-term and special exhibitions. They greatly enhance our learning and engagement programs designed for students, adults, and visitors both on-site and virtual, providing insight, education, entertainment, and inspiration.  

The Manitoba Museum’s extensive collections are used to help us understand how the province has changed and continues to change over time. Collections and related research by Museum curators and research partnerships have significant impact on a local, national, and global scale. It advances community initiatives, knowledge and skill repatriation, and contributes to scholarly research and publications.  Research helps to inform provincial, national, and global initiatives and policies. For natural history research can contribute to help society protect vulnerable species and ecosystems from potential decline or extinction.

The Manitoba Museum collections reach diverse audiences, particularly those visiting the Museum and local communities, researchers, other museums, artists, and students both locally and from around the world. Our reach includes the rest of Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Poland, Sweden, France, and China, just to name a few.

Most artifacts and specimens are received through generous donations and bequests, while others are collected as part of a curator’s fieldwork or purchased by the Museum. We are entrusted by the people of Manitoba with the responsibility to preserve, protect, research, and interpret collections that represent the natural and human history of the province. We take this role very seriously.  

At any given time, it is only possible to display a fraction of our 2.9 million artifacts and specimens – including some of the most striking ones – in the Museum Galleries. The majority of the collections are carefully preserved in special humidity and temperature-controlled vaults. 

Meet the Collections Team

Nancy Anderson

Meet the Collections Team

Nancy Anderson

Collections Management Specialist – Human History

Nancy Anderson holds a B.A. (Hons) in History from the University of Winnipeg, and received her M.A. in Canadian Social History jointly from the University of Winnipeg and University of Manitoba. She has over 30 years experience…
Meet Nancy Anderson
Cortney Pachet

Cortney Pachet

Collections Technician – Human History

Cortney Pachet started working at the Manitoba Museum in 2001 as a tour guide while earning her a BA (Honours) from the University of Winnipeg. She quickly realized that she wanted a career in museums…
Meet Cortney Pachet
Aro van Dyck

Aro van Dyck

Collections Technician – Natural History

Aro van Dyck earned her B.Sc. from the University of Manitoba, majoring in Biological Sciences and minoring in Entomology. She has also researched the diversity of wasps and bees Winnipeg’s greenspaces…
Meet Aro van Dyck
An open storage drawer containing dozens of colourful, carefully preserved butterfly specimens.

Donate to the Collection

We appreciate your interest in preserving Manitoba’s human, natural, and scientific heritage by donating an object to the Manitoba Museum Collection!

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Shelves full of books.

Information Services

The Manitoba Museum maintains a library and institutional archive, including an ever-growing collection of contemporary oral histories.

Learn more