The Burnaby Village Museum’s collection consists of objects and textual records from our region's cultural history. The mandate of the collection is to represent the historical and cultural history of Burnaby. While 40% of the collection is exhibited throughout the 10-acre village site, much of the collection is housed in storage for research and conservation purposes to ensure the legacy of Burnaby’s tangible and intangible heritage.
If you are interested in making a donation of an object or record that tells Burnaby's history from time immemorial to present day, please contact Assistant Curator Kate Petrusa at 604-297-4559 or email at kate.petrusa@burnaby.ca.
If you're interested in previous exhibits based on our collection that took place at Burnaby Village Museum, check out our list of past exhibits.
Over the years Burnaby Village Museum’s direction and vision has transformed.
When Heritage Village (now Burnaby Village Museum) opened to the public in 1971, the vision was to create a Lower Mainland village set in the 1890s. In 1990, the Municipality of Burnaby took over operation of Burnaby Village Museum from the Century Park Museum Association and the Museum shifted its focus towards Burnaby in the 1920s. During this time, the Museum refocused its collection and its interpretation to provide visitors and researchers with a site to explore Burnaby’s history.
In 2008, Burnaby’s Community Heritage Commission launched a shared website for access to the combined collections of the Office of the City Clerk, the Heritage Planning Program, the Burnaby Village Museum, the City of Burnaby Archives and the Burnaby Public Library. The website, HeritageBurnaby.ca offers a more in-depth look at the City and the Museum’s collections.