The Department of Museum Collections cares for a large and eclectic body of material ranging from postage stamps to horse drawn vehicles, and from quilts to firearms. Among the 100,000 objects are items of national as well as local significance.
Collection Highlights
Iroquois:
Pipe tomahawks, daily life in 1550 diorama, Red Jacket's Washington Peace
Medal.
War of 1812:
Armaments, uniforms, Oliver Hazard Perry's cased wine decanters, Peter
B. Porter's presentation sword, commemorative 
Liverpool
jugs. Here is a bibliography on the war of 1812, prepared by William H. Siener (Word document). (This bibiography is not limited to BECHS library holdings.) For more 1812 references which list BECHS holdings, look here.
Erie Canal:
Commemorative plates, medals, ribbons, Canvas White's canal boat model.
Lives of three Presidents:
Millard Fillmore's Union Continentals silver uniform buttons, and his
charcoal sketch by George Healy, Grover Cleveland's wedding cakebox, William
McKinley's cigars, and the revolver used by Leon Czolgosz in McKinley's
assassination.
Industrialization:
Bethlehem Steel patterns, steelworker tools and protective gear, Trico
windshield wipers, Pierce Motorette, aircraft engines, and hundreds of
other local products; artifacts associated with union labor, such as badges,
ribbons, and a union musician's cap from Local 533, American Federation
of Musicians, The Colored Musicians Local.
Immigrants:
Personal tools, gear, and household effects from many of the region's
diverse ethnic and cultural groups.
Aviation and the War Effort:
Uniforms, equipment, weapons, Elias Brothers artifacts, and Bell and Curtiss
Wright artifacts, including one of the oldest surviving Bell helicopters.
Textiles:
The largest collection in Western New York, featuring quilts, samplers,
lace, and clothing.
Paintings:
Approximately 500 works documenting two centuries of the region's changing
landscape, and the men and women who helped shape the area's history;
nationally recognized artists including William H. Beard, Raphael Beck,
Alvah Bradish, Thomas LeClear, Augustus Rockwell, Lars G. Sellstedt, and
William Wilgus; John Mix Stanley's Trial of Red Jacket; and works by Joseph
Josephs, a 19th century "colorful" sign painter and booster of both Buffalo
and the early Republican party.
Glass and Ceramics:
Collected by private individuals reflecting technological developments
and taste in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
The Resource Center holds the country’s only surviving lighthouse lens from an early Winslow Lewis design, among its rare and prized items.
Access to the Museum Collections
Under specified, supervised conditions, the museum makes its collections of artifacts available to scholars, collectors, and interested members of the public who can demonstrate a legitimate purpose. Permission to undertake hands-on artifacts research depends upon accessibility and condition of the object. Anyone interested in undertaking on-site study of the Society's collections should write the Director of Museum Collections, 25 Nottingham Court, Buffalo, New York 14216-3199, and ask for a Request for Access to Artifact Collections form.