We have been accumulating the treasures in the Museum of Vancouver’s Collection for over one hundred years.
Our collection is home to important historical, ethnographic, archaeological, Asian studies, and natural history objects.
Over the years MOV’s direction and vision has transformed.
We began with a goal of showcasing the curiosities of the world to enlighten Vancouverites; however, in 2009 we shifted our goal towards showcasing the City of Vancouver to the world.
Now, we steer the development of our collection to meet that objective and new acquisitions centre on reflecting the story of Vancouver.
When the Art, Historical and Scientific Association (the original MOV) first formed in 1894, the goal was to showcase the curiosities of the world for the enlightenment of Vancouverites.
While building and refining these collections, and at the same time developing a Vancouver history collection, the museum continued on this broad collecting path.
New acquisitions centre on reflecting the City of Vancouver story, from major directional shifts in communities to those items creating everyday memories.
openMOV offers a more in-depth look, a chance to explore our new publicly accessible on-line database and associated digitized images.
The creation of a web accessible database and associated digitized images has been made possible through grants from;
Repatriation
As the custodians of collections containing Indigenous belongings from the Pacific Northwest, and other areas of the globe, MOV is committed to ethical collecting and the decolonization of the City of Vancouver's collection. A Repatriation Policy was added to the Museum's collections policy in 2006.
