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“Canada has a unique geography, a unique history, and unique stories.” [Several quick shots of various landscapes around Canada ending on drone footage of the Ingenium Centre. Inspirational music plays in the background.]

“At Ingenium, we showcase Canada’s stories of science and innovation. Behind these walls, objects are brought to life by the stories that shape them, by their creators, their users, and by the lessons we can learn from them.” [Footage panning across multiple Ingenium collections including trains, cars, microscopes, bicycles.]

“We celebrate those who dare to think differently; their stories reflect our nation’s drive to learn, to adapt, to discover, and to create.” [Old photos of an astronaut, a woman in a wheelchair beside her adapted car, a man playing an electronic synthesizer.]

“Our collection preserves the stories of our nation’s heritage. We are home to millions of artifacts and archival documents, spanning soil to space and everything in between.” [Cut back to shots of the collections at Ingenium: space artifacts, agriculture artifacts. A shot of the Ingenium library and archives.]

“There is no other collection like ours in the world. It showcases Canada’s instrumental contributions to science and innovation.” [Historic footage of airplanes flying cuts to visitors at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum looking up at pointing to aircrafts.]

“Artifacts are a gateway to understanding the world in a new way.” [A man looks down at an iPad rendering a 3D scan of a train in the collection.]

“What may look like an ordinary water sample is actually a specimen of the oldest known flowing water on Earth, dating back over a billion years.” [A curator holds a vial of water. A zoomed in shot of the water shows a label that says “Kidd Creek Water”]

“We are safeguarding more than just artifacts; we are preserving, with respect, the stories of their users and creators.” [Conservators hold Q-tips dipped in various liquids as they work on various artifacts.]

“We embrace the knowledge of equity-deserving communities by collaborating with them to uncover new stories about our collection.” [A woman smiles and speaks as she presses buttons on a prototype display board used for testing. Her guide dog sits beside her.]

“This Algonquin-style birchbark canoe dates back centuries and is an example of the master craftsmanship of the Anishinaabe people, representing identity, history, culture, and language.” [Various pans of the canoe from different directions as it sits in the middle of the collections storage area.]

“The Dome mine carries over 100 years of mining history. Inscriptions on this mine door mark moments in time made important by the miners who left them – from a first snow to historic events.” [Close up on the Dome mine doors. Messages are carved into the door including “May 2. Hot, all snow gone, clear skies” and “June 5. Kennedy shot at LA”]

“Spanning transportation, physical sciences, medicine, communications, agriculture, and natural resources, our collection signals wide-reaching impacts – from redefining the way we measure time, to launching modern satellite broadcast technology, increasing access to Canada’s remote Northern areas.” [Several quick shots of various collection objects including a car, a computer, a microscope, agriculture equipment, engines, a satellite model. A plane flies over a small northern community.]

“Whether the first, the oldest, the largest, or the smallest of their kind, there is no limit to what you can discover in our collection.”[A curator takes a box down from the top shelf in the collection storage facilities. Two curators handle a small precision instrument with gloved hands.]

“Our stories can inspire amazement… a time and place to rediscover Canada’s contribution to the world.” [Several kids flip pages and point excitedly to pictures at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. Drone footage of the outside of Ingenium Centre.]

[Ingenium logo, Government of Canada wordmark.]

Collection

Ingenium is the steward of Canada’s national science and technology collection. This collection includes more than 150,000 objects, 100,000 library items, and 2500m of archival material. Our collection traces its origins back to the National Museum of Man, the Department of Agriculture, the RCAF History and Heritage Collection, the National Aeronautical Collection (NRC), and the National Aviation Museum and Canadian War Museum’s aviation collections.

Ingenium’s collection is evidence of Canada’s unique history of scientific and technological ingenuity. It explores the areas of:

  • Transportation (air, space, land, marine)
  • Physical sciences
  • Medicine
  • Communications
  • Agriculture
  • Natural resources

The collection is housed in two state-of-the-art facilities: the Ingenium Centre and the Reserve Hangar. The Ingenium Centre, located next to the Canada Science and Technology Museum, has a total floor area of 36,000 square meters. In its temperature and humidity-controlled environments, artifacts, ranging from small table-top appliances like sewing machines to large industrial equipment such as locomotives and threshers, are preserved. The Reserve Hangar, which measures 8,200 square meters, is situated next to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum and houses related artifacts, including aircraft, engines, and simulation modules.

Access our catalogues

Collection online

Browse through Canada’s collection of science and technology artifacts. Digital records and images bring the Ingenium collection to your fingertips, accessible to anyone in the world.

Visit the collection online

Library and archives catalogue

See our library collection items, including books, historic photographs, and archival documents.

Search catalogue

Library and Archives

Ingenium’s Library and Archives holdings include books, brochures, catalogues, cassette tapes, films, journals, manuals, photographs, technical drawings, and textual records that provide insight into the technical and cultural understanding of science and innovation. The Library and Archives is open to the public by appointment and accessible online to users worldwide.
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Artifact access

Ingenium welcomes researchers who are interested in examining, studying, and engaging with the collection. If you would like to arrange access to our artifacts, please contact the Ingenium Research Institute at IRI@ingeniumcanada.org.

Artifact loans

Ingenium lends artifacts to create opportunities for audiences—throughout Canada and abroad—to access Canada’s national science and technology collection. Learn more about how your organization can borrow artifacts for the purposes of public exhibition or scholarly research.

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Donate objects

For over 50 years, we have collected objects, photographs, and archival material that tell stories of the relationship between science, technology, and society. Ingenium’s curators and archivist actively identify, research, and collect significant collection objects. Interested in helping to preserve Canada’s scientific and technological heritage by donating an object to Ingenium’s national collection?

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A group of people visiting the Ingenium’s collection and looking at the last steam locomotive built by the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Guided tours of the Ingenium Centre collection

Learn about the life of an artifact in the guided tour of our state-of-the-art Ingenium Centre.

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