The museum collection features nearly 35,000 objects documenting the cultural, social, political, economic, and military history of Connecticut’s people.

Cheers! The CHS holds the largest collection of 18th- and 19th-century Connecticut and southern New England tavern, hotel, and inn signs to be found anywhere.The sign pictured at left is from E.L. Perkins Inn, situated on the Shetucket Turnpike, RI, the "last stop" heading west toward Connecticut. This collection is featured in the traveling exhibition Lions & Eagles & Bulls.

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Numbering more than 8,000 items, this collection represents a significant portion of the museum’s holdings. The majority of pieces are costume and accessory items ranging in date from the early 1700s to the present day, including rare, early examples of everyday wear. Primarily focused on textile and clothing items worn or used by Connecticut residents, the collection nonetheless represents the changing styles and development of textile technologies affecting New England and the nation. Quilts, coverlets, bed hangings, linens, samplers, and other needlework items comprise the textile collection.

Paintings, furniture, architectural elements, English and Native American tools and weapons from Connecticut’s first century are just some of the items in this collection.

Prime examples of furniture from Connecticut’s leading cabinetmakers, 1740-1840.

This single largest collection of the 18th- and 19th-century Connecticut portraits features works by John Trumbull, Thomas Sully, the Jennyses, Erastus Salisbury Field, and other artists. Our 600+ oil paintings and miniatures also include landscapes and townscenes.

More than 3,000 tools, patterns and molds representing a wide range of crafts illustrate Connecticut’s important place in an industrializing America. Prominent in this category is the Ken Roberts collection of molding plates.

With finely crafted 18th-century tall case examples to mass-produced shelf clocks, this collection explores Connecticut’s leading role in the production of time-pieces for a growing consumer market.