About the Collections

From Indigenous baskets to bog horseshoes and Chinese opera costumes, the City of Richmond’s 20,000+ artefact collection tells the many stories of Richmond.

Artefacts in the City of Richmond Collection tell our stories, past and present. While the Museum is interested in contemporary collecting, objects in the collection range from an Indigenous cedar-bark shield to cranberry scoops, an interurban tram, horsehair couches, Hong Wo signs, suribachi grinding bowls, false teeth, typewriters and wedding dresses.

Community members began collecting artefacts for us more than 60 years ago — and are still the source of most of our donations. We’re a community museum and we couldn’t do it without you!

Our Collections Mandate

The Collections mandate is to: collect and maintain material (artefacts) that has historical, social and/or cultural significance to the community of Richmond and that contributes to an understanding of the past and present human behaviour, customs, activities, events and institutions.

Interested in donating an artefact?

If you have any objects you think may help us tell Richmond's stories, we'd love to hear from you.

We welcome donations of objects that tell the stories of Richmond, big and small. Some of our most relevant, iconic and meaningful objects have been donated by members of our community.
We are currently looking for objects that tell the story of:

• Our community and the people who live here
• Richmond’s business community
• The Vancouver airport and local flight history
• Horseracing and the history of Richmond’s tracks
• Communication technologies in Richmond
• Migration and immigration to Richmond
• Changing technologies, including gaming systems and cell phones

To donate please contact the Curator of Collections at artefact@richmond.ca or call (604) 204-8990.

Caring for Collections

Are you looking for information about how to care for your collections?

Here are a couple of expert resources that we like to use:

Museology and Conservation

Canadian Conservation Institute