Artifacts and historical objects collection: over 11,000 years of human history

Explore how Parks Canada specialists conserve and care for millions of artifacts representing a rich and diverse history.

Preserving artifacts: a national mandate

Did you know that Parks Canada cares for a collection of over 31 million historical and archaeological artifacts? Over many decades, Parks Canada has acquired artifacts that represent over 11,000 years of human history from coast to coast to coast. Examples of the types of artifacts in this collection include:

  • everyday household goods and furnishings
  • military uniforms
  • agricultural tools
  • Indigenous hunting tools

If you have ever visited a national historic site or national park, you may have seen or maybe even held reproductions of some of these notable pieces of the history of Canada!

Children viewing artifacts in a glass exhibit case at a national historic site
Artifacts are displayed at the Passages exhibit in the barracks at Fort Lennox National Historic Site, Quebec.

The specialists who care for the collection

Parks Canada cares for, manages, and conserves the largest collection of its kind in Canada. Some of these artifacts are extremely sensitive and fragile.

Parks Canada has a team of conservation specialists who preserve and protect these valuable examples of cultural heritage found across the country.

Conservation specialists roles

  • Collection Curators

    These specialists research the objects and artifacts under Parks Canada's care. This research helps visitors learn about the history in Canada in national historic sites, national parks and national marine conservation areas.

  • Archaeologists

    These specialists study on-land and underwater archaeological artifacts and sites. They do research such as field excavations, and help manage archaeological resources.

    Archaeologists share what they learn with the public through publications, presentations and exhibits.

  • Collections specialists

    These specialists manage the collections of historical and archaeological objects under Parks Canada’s care. They help care for objects by:

    • packing artifacts safely
    • organizing artifacts
    • storing artifacts
    • sending artifacts to sites for exhibits
  • Indigenous engagement advisors

    These specialists work with Indigenous partners and organizations to share information and to discuss their interest in accessing Indigenous objects under Parks Canada’s care.

  • Preventive conservation specialists

    These specialists give advice on long-term conservation strategies for artifacts. This reduces the need to repair damaged artifacts in the future.

    They advise on things such as:

    • environmental conditions around an artifact
    • lighting
    • security
    • object handling
    • exhibit case materials
  • Conservation scientists

    These scientists are specialists in chemistry and material science. They use their expertise to test and identify the materials that make up an artifact.

    Conservation scientists help us understand more about an artifact including its age, the materials it is made of, its manufacturer and its original use.

  • Artifact conservators

    These specialists apply conservation treatments to many different kinds of artifacts. They also recommend methods for long-term stabilization, treatment, handling, and storage.

    Some of the types of artifacts that conservators treat include:

    • paintings and sculptures
    • books and paper
    • textiles and furniture
    • metals
    • wood
    • ceramics
    • glass
  • Artifact reproduction specialists

    Artifact reproductions specialists reproduce historical and archaeological objects. Their work allows the public to access and handle copies of artifacts that are too fragile to touch or travel.

    These reproductions are often used in exhibitions, interpretation activities and research.

  • Imaging specialists

    Imaging Specialists at Parks Canada use cutting edge methods to document artifacts. These specialists use technology that can reveal every detail of an artifact. Some of these details are too small to see even with the naked eye!

    Some of the cutting-edge methods that Imaging Specialists use include:

    • infrared imaging
    • photogrammetry
    • 3D laser scanning
    • optical lighting techniques: raking, axial, transmitted and specular light
    • high resolution professional studio photography

Selected artifacts and their story

Parks Canada uses many of the artifacts under its care in exhibits at sites across the country. You can find many of them at Canada’s national historic sites, national parks, and national marine conservation areas. Presenting these artifacts to visitors helps tell the stories of these treasured places.

Some of the objects in Parks Canada’s care are of Indigenous cultural heritage. As stewards, Parks Canada works with Indigenous partners to better understand their interests with respect to these objects. Parks Canada then collaborates with these Indigenous partners to access, connect with, and care for these objects.

A group of archaeologists in green uniforms are excavating a large pit using tools
In 2017, Parks Canada archaeologists worked with local Inuit elders and the Sirmilik National Park team, Nunavut, to excavate a qarmaq, an Inuit fall house with stone foundations and a hide roof.

The collection under Parks Canada’s care contains artifacts that range in size, age, and historical value. Artifacts can be as small as an iron nail excavated at the site of Viking settlements in Newfoundland and Labrador. They can also be as large as the archaeological remnants of the Franklin Expedition in the Northwest Passage. Every item in the collection represents an integral part of cultural heritage in Canada.

Take a closer look at some of the artifacts in Parks Canada’s care.

Bog Iron Nail, L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland

A series of four iron nails laid on a flat surface with measurement tools beside
Four reproductions of a Bog Iron Nail artifact found at L’Anse aux Meadows, created by Parks Canada’s artifact reproduction specialists

Around AD 1000, a group of Norse sailed the Atlantic Ocean from Greenland to Baffin Island, then south to the tip of Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula. Historians believe that for 10 to 20 years they wintered at this base camp and explored the region they called “Vinland.” The Norse built their encampment on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland, near the contemporary village of L'Anse aux Meadows. It’s roughly 1000 kilometers north-west from St. John's, the provincial capital. The epic tales known as the Icelandic sagas say Leif Ericsson led the Norse expedition. They were likely seeking timber, but furs and other resources such as grapes would have been welcome finds.

Over 1000 years old, this nail was found during archeological excavations conducted under the direction of Dr. Brigitta Wallace at L’Anse aux Meadows NHS. Made of bog iron, it is evidence of the earliest known iron smelting in North America. Tests of the slag (smelting waste) found on- site matched the iron in the nail, proving that the nail was made from bog iron harvested at L'Anse aux Meadows. Once smelted, the bog iron nuggets could then be forged into iron. The Norse people had been smelting iron from European bogs for about 1400 years before they came to Newfoundland and found bog iron at L'Anse aux Meadows.

Learn more about this artifact and where it was found

Figurative argillite pole carving, SG̱ang Gwaay Llnagaay, British Columbia

A black object carved in the shape of an animal's head rests in someone's hand.
Figurative argillite pole carving dating to the late 1800s. This piece was recovered from an excavation program in SG̱ang Gwaay Llnagaay (Nan Sdins), in British Columbia, in 2018.
© Parks Canada Gwaii Haanas

In the winter of 2018, a hurricane-force windstorm struck the island of SG̱ang Gwaay. The island is home to SG̱ang Gwaay Llnagaay, a Haida Heritage Site recognized as a national historic site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The village includes more than thirty mortuary, house frontal, and memorial poles, as well as the remains of nineteen cedar-planked longhouses.

As a result of these high winds, over 100 mature spruce trees were uprooted. As the trees fell, they ripped up large sections of the village, including houses, and displaced hundreds of cultural belongings and sediments.

In response, the Haida put an eco‑cultural restoration program in place. Guided by Haida leadership and values, a number of archeological excavations were conducted. These excavations focused on Naa Ga Agang Is Guuda, “People Wish to Be There House.” Thousands of belongings were recovered from the excavations, including both traditional Haida materials and trade goods. Among them was a finely carved figurative argillite pole, found alongside a carver’s tools–a metal gouge, sea mammal billet and anvil, and thousands of argillite flakes.

Together, these belongings tell the story of a carver working in the back corner of the house during a period of major social and cultural change following contact with Europeans. The belongings show that the Haida continued their carving traditions while also adopting new metal tools. The village’s last full-time residents were forced to leave around 1886, after European diseases devastated the population. The final occupation of Naa Ga Agang Is Guuda, and the carving recovered from the excavations, likely date to this late 19th century period.

Learn more about this artifact and where it was found

Ruby’s Place 1930s dress, Dawson City, Yukon

A short sleeve summer dress laid on a flat surface
Short sleeve summer dress found in the walls at Ruby's Place, Yukon
A person with gloves handles and shows the label sewn inside the collar of a dress
Billie Burke dress tag on the dress at Ruby's Place

In 1935, Ruby Scott purchased a former lodging house on Second Avenue in Dawson City, Yukon, and ran it as a brothel, and later a boarding house, until 1969. It is now owned and administered by Parks Canada as part of the Dawson City Historical Complex. Ruby’s Place was once one of Dawson's premier houses of prostitution; Ruby herself was a well-loved and respected member of the community.

This lightweight summer day-dress from the 1930s was discovered in the walls of Ruby’s Place during restoration work. It would have been in fashion during Ruby’s time. We don’t know who wore it, but it tells an interesting story about fashion in the North.

The garment is a woman's full-length light summer dress with a tie around the waist. It's stained and crumpled after decades stuffed in a wall, but it was originally purple with a white checked pattern. The dress tag reads "Billie Burke Registered." Actress Billie Burke is best remembered for her role as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, in the film The Wizard of Oz - and like many celebrities today, she had her own fashion line. It may well have belonged to one of the women who worked for Ruby during the 1930s or later.

Learn more about this artifact and where it was found

Chinese Porcelain Tea Bowl, Nova Scotia

Enslavement and daily life at the Fortress of Louisbourg

A white and blue ceramic tea bowl with some broken spots is photographed against a gray background
A ceramic tea bowl from the archaeological collections at the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site, Nova Scotia
A white and blue ceramic tea bowl, some parts of which are broken, is photographed against a grey background and from the side to show the underside of the object.

This mid-18th century tea bowl was found in a well during archaeological excavations on the property of Jean and Magdeleine Loppinot, one of the Fortress of Louisbourg’s elite families. During the 18th century, approx. 3% of Louisbourg’s population were enslaved. One of the enslaved people was Marie Marguerite Rose. At 19, she was sold into the slave trade in Guinea, West Africa, and forced into the ruthless sea journey known as the Middle Passage, part of the transatlantic trade route between Africa and the Caribbean. We don’t know to which French Caribbean colony she was sold, but shortly after arriving, she was purchased by one of Louisbourg’s elite families, that of Jean and Magdeleine Loppinot.

She worked for the family for 2 decades, raising their 12 children and her own son. She was likely responsible for domestic tasks like sweeping the floors, cleaning, preparing and serving meals, cutting firewood, keeping the house fire burning, gardening, and providing childcare. At the age of 38, she was freed, married, and opened an inn which she ran for 2 years until her death in 1757.

Extensive archaeology was conducted at Louisbourg. Many of the finds help interpret the lives of not only the elites, but of the enslaved people who lived there too. This tea bowl was excavated from the Loppinot house. Marie Marguerite may have served tea in it.

Why is it called a tea bowl and not teacup? Historically, they were two different things. Tea bowls originated in China and Japan, where tea was first drunk. Handles on tea bowls were a later, European addition.

Learn more about this artifact and where it was found

Next time you visit a historic site, a park or a national marine conservation area, see if you can find an historical object on display!

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