Collection categories

Inverness Museum collects anything that can tell the story of the Highlands, including its natural environment and its people. We represent the whole of the Highland region as well as the city of Inverness. All periods of time are included, from prehistoric eras right up to modern day. Items can come from anywhere in the world but must have a strong connection to the Highlands. This means the collections are very eclectic, a real mixture of materials!

There are approximately 100,000 items in the collection. In order to efficiently document and store all these items, we divide the collection into broad subject categories: archaeology, archives, costume and textiles, decorative arts, fine art, natural sciences, numismatics (coins and medals), social history and weapons. Our biggest categories by number of items, are natural sciences and archaeology. Our biggest category by physical space, is social history.

Explore the pages below to learn more about these subjects and some of the interesting objects that we care for.