About the Collections

From Indigenous baskets to bog horseshoes and Chinese opera costumes, the City of Richmond’s 22,000+ artefact collection tells the many stories of Richmond.

Artefacts in the City of Richmond Collection tell our stories, past and present. The collection varies broadly and includes a horsehair couch, an interurban tram, cranberry scoops, mobile phones, suribachi grinding bowls, Pokémon cards, Hong Wo general store signs, wedding dresses, and more!  You can find artefacts on display at museum and heritage sites around the City.

Community members began building the collection more than 60 years ago, preserving our shared heritage for future generations. The community is still the source of most of the donations we receive and we could not do it without you!

Our Collections Mandate

The City of Richmond’s 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?

We'd love to hear from you if you have any objects you think may help us tell Richmond's stories.

We welcome donations of objects that tell the stories of Richmond, big and small. 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
• Horse racing and the history of Richmond’s tracks
• Communication technologies in Richmond
• Migration and immigration to Richmond
• Changing technologies

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