The nucleus of the I&T Museum's early collections consisted of exhibits that had been displayed at the Intercolonial Exhibition of 1866-1867, together with a collection of mining models, miners' tools and agricultural equipment models that McCoy had put together from 1856 as part of the National Museum based at the University. The one exception were the prized Nordstrom mining models, which McCoy refused to transfer to the new museum and managed to retain until his death in 1899.

The following is a list of some of the more significant multiple item acquisitions made over the past 150 years:
1860  Canning Indian Mutiny Collection
1872  Wax Fruit Collection
1875  Whatmough Collection
1880  Royal Exhibition Building Collection
1880  Poonah Clay Figure Collection
1882  Sargood Arms Manufacture Collection
1885  May Vale Timber Collection
1887  T.N. Mukharji Collection
1915  Telegraphy Collection
1915  J.J. Thompson Telegraphy Collection
1943  William Cole Arms Collection
1945  Melbourne Observatory Collection
1965  CSIRAC Collection
1974  Motor Cycle Collection
1980  Gerald & Lorna Dee Collection
1981  Printing Type Collection
1984  Antarctica Collection
1985  Lilian Louisa Pitts Collection
1985  Bill Boyd Photographic Collection
1986  C.H. Nowell Horticultural Collection
1986  Vickers Ruwolt Collection
1987  Daniel Harvey Collection
1989  Simpson's Gloves Collection
1990  Francis Collection
1990  Dr Thomas George Beckett Collection
1990  Rodda Collection
1991  Whelan the Wrecker Collection
1992  International Harvester (IH) Collection
1993  State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) Collection
1994  William McCook Windmills Collection
1995  H.V. McKay Sunshine Collection
1995  Laurie Richards Collection
1995  West Gate Bridge Collection
1995  Jack Walton Collection
2000  Victorian Women on Farms Gathering Collection
2001  G.H. Myers Collection
2001  Medical Ephemera Collection
2001  CSIRAC Archive & Paper Tape Library Collection
2001  Jack Chisholm Fencing Collection
2003  Barfoot Surgical Bootmaking Collection
2004  CSL (Commonwealth Serum Laboratories) Collection
2004  Trade Literature Collection
2005  Baker & Rouse Collection
2005  Paragon Shoe Collection
2005  Harold P. Wood Collection
2005  Kodak Heritage Collection
2006  A.J. Campbell Collection
2006  Internet Macintosh User Group (iMug) Collection
2008  Bionic Ear Collection
2008  Fairfield Hospital Collection
2008  Norman Wodetzki Collection
2009  Victorian Bushfires Collection
2012  Stan Payton (Massey Ferguson) Collection

Below are links to a selecton significant and representative individual collectoins items in the Technology collections of Museums Victoria acquired over the past 150 years.

 

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