About the Collection

The Museum has a collection that allows people to learn about the country’s immigration history. Collection items are preserved and used for research, exhibition, and interpretation.

The collection has digital and physical items. The Museum focuses on collecting born-digital and digitized items. Some examples include cellphone photographs or scans of a paper document.

Oral Histories

The oral history collection includes over 1,300 audio and video recorded interviews with immigrants, refugees, settlement workers, immigration officers, war veterans, and Pier 21 volunteers and staff. These interviews were recorded across Canada by the Museum’s oral history team.

Written Stories

Since the Museum first opened in 1999, museum staff has collected and preserved written memories shared primarily by newcomers to Canada, veterans, Pier 21 staff and volunteers, and their families. Presently, this collection contains nearly 3000 stories.

Archives

The archive primarily consists of digital photographs and documents, as well as original two-dimensional photographs and documents, and a small collection of multimedia. It includes immigration paperwork, photographs, and ship memorabilia.

The Museum is also home to the Canadian Immigration Historical Society collection. Originally collected by a dedicated group of retired immigration, customs, and foreign service officers from across Canada, this collection is a rich resource for researchers.

Artifacts

The Museum houses a small collection of approximately 1500 three-dimensional artifacts, largely collected by the Pier 21 Historical Society.