Geology

This is a mixed collection of palaeontology and rock specimens, mainly from Moray. The main strength of the collection is in the palaeontology section. There are around 750 fossil fish laid down in the Old Red Sandstone of the Devonian period and about 200 specimens of the Elgin Reptiles from the Permo-Triassic period. Other items are not all from Moray and include approximately 300 fossil invertebrates and 50 fossil plants.

The fish and reptile collections were mainly collected in the mid to late 19th century.

Natural History

This collection consists of moths and butterflies of Britain and abroad, Molluscs from the Moray Firth, shells from abroad, skulls and skeletal material from Moray and abroad, mounted mammals and birds, birds' eggs and a small botanical collection of pressed plants from Moray collected in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Social History

This is a large collection consisting of some 2000 pieces, of which almost all come from Moray. It covers mainly domestic items including laundry, kitchenware, tableware, ornamental pieces, lighting and handicraft objects.

Costume and Textiles

The costume collection consists of around 200 pieces of male, female and children's clothing and personal accessories mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries.

The textile collection consists of about 30 items and includes linen made in Elgin and several dated samplers made by local people in the 19th century.

Arms and Armour

There are around 120 items in this group including swords, powder horns, pistols and Scottish weaponry.

Documents and Ephemera

This collection consists of approximately 8000 items relating to the people and towns of Moray. The history of the Museum is well documented with accession registers, minutes, letters, visitor books and other ephemera dating from 1836.

The Watson Papers is a collection of about 6000 bills and letters relating to Watson's Sawmills in Elgin in the late 19th century. The letters refer to a wide variety of social interest such as shipbuilding, railways and domestic buiding.

There is also an archive of letters to one of the Museum's founders, Dr George Gordon.

Photographs

This collection includes about 1750 negatives of local persons and places, which have come from Tyrell Studios, Elgin. A few of these have prints that correspond.

There is also a small collection of aerial photographs of Moray, from different sources.

Numismatics

This collection comprises a miscellaneous set of British and Scottish and foreign coins. There is also a representative collection of British trade tokens, Scottish communion tokens and commemorative and military medals, some of which relate to persons of the area.

There is also a small hoard of Roman coins found during an excavation at Birnie.

Fine Art

This is a small collection comprising drawings, engravings, lithographs, watercolour paintings and a few pieces of sculpture. The drawings and lithographs mostly depict topographical scenes of Moray.

The Etta Sharp Collection of watercolours is not of local works. It is a small collection of 49 paintings representative of the development of the English watercolour tradition from the late 18th century until the early 20th century. It includes a Turner, a Constable and paintings by many other well known artists. There are a few Scottish paintings in this collection.

In terms of sculpture there is a bronze head of Ramsay MacDonald by Jacob Epstein.

Archaeology

This collection consists of Scottish, British and foreign material, although the majority is Scottish and from Moray. The quantity of local material is not large but there are some artefacts representing Moray's past. They range through Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age items. There is also a collection of Pictish and early Christian stone carvings and Medieval material. The 'Birnie Hoard' is on loan to Elgin Museum from the National Museums of Scotland.

The foreign archaeology consists of pre-Spanish material excavated by Dr James Cooper Clark when on British Government expeditions to Central America and Peru in 1913 and 1928. There are also some Greek and Roman pieces collected in the Mediterranean and in Britain.

Ethnography

This collection consists of artefacts brought back by Moray travellers in the 19th century and early 20th century. There are some 800 items in the collection, representing aspects of the human history of many cultures and all the continents excluding Europe.

Books, Off-prints, Catalogues etc.

In the Museum library there is a small collection of books which were acquired and written by members of the Elgin and Morayshire Scientific Association (the fore-runner of the Moray Society). There is a collection of 19th and early 20th century reference books such as the complete PSAS, local history books, George Gordon's bound copies of the Zoologist and Ray Society Monographs, early geology books and Spalding Club Volumes.

There are also off-prints of many articles refering to any research on the palaeontological specimens and archaeology and other miscellaneous reference books.