Inside the vault: A Look into the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Collections Department

Step into the Science Museum of Minnesota, and you’re immediately greeted with countless items to see and explore — from dinosaur skeletons to Indigenous belongings to hands-on, interactive exhibits.

But just as important for the museum and the scientists who work there are the specimens visitors can’t see.

Tucked behind the museum galleries sits a large, climate-controlled collections facility. With over 2 million items spanning Earth’s history, the collections hold questions (and answers) about the past and present in Minnesota and beyond.

What’s inside the vault

Most items in the collections are kept in a behind-the-scenes storage area lovingly and appropriately nicknamed “the vault.”

Items in the vault can be extremely delicate, like animal skeletons dating back millions of years and artifacts from ancient civilizations.

These items require proper care and conditions to ensure they’ll be available for scientists to study for years to come. That means keeping the vault at a precise temperature and humidity level.

By ensuring the collections’ longevity, the team is allowing future scientists to study and learn from them. In fact, new discoveries are regularly made by scientists and researchers accessing decades-old specimens.

“There have been new species discovered from 100-year-old specimens,” explained Rebecca Newberry, director of collections stewardship.

Building the collections

Since the Science Museum was founded in 1907, items have made their way into the collections in a variety of ways. Some of the collections’ earlier items were donated by private collectors, while others came from public institutions.

But some of the most important pieces have been discovered and collected in the field by the museum’s own scientists, with many coming from archaeological digs in the 1950s and 1970s.

When it comes to sourcing new items, staff from the museum’s Center for Research and Collections carefully select which items will further ongoing research.

“We take things that build on what we have or fill gaps that we need to fill in the collection and that support our work,” Newberry said.

A global collection with a Minnesota focus

The vault is home to items from across the globe, spanning Hmong jewelry from the mountains of Southeast Asia to Maya textile art from the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico.

Still, some of the biggest and most important collections come from Minnesota. Marine fossils show what Minnesota was like millions of years ago when it was covered with ocean, while human artifacts demonstrate how early inhabitants lived in the state 10,000 years ago.

Going beyond the vault

While keeping items in The Vault is the best way to preserve them, it also limits who can see and learn from them. That’s where the museum’s digitization efforts come in.

The museum is currently in the process of digitizing its collections, capturing photos, data, and information about each item to be recorded and accessed online. This effort allows scientists from all over to compare the museum’s collections to others around the world, leading to more in-depth discoveries and more complete research.

“The Science Museum’s collections are part of the world. We are not owners of these collections — we’re stewards so they can be available to anyone who wants to work with them,” Newberry said.

Even on the museum floor, the collections’ team aims to bring its advancements to a wider audience. The department continuously expands the collections’ reach by bringing items out of the vault and into the exhibits upstairs.