About the Collection

The Ingenium Collection is a depository of national artifacts related to agriculture and food, aviation and space, communications, domestic technology, marine and land transportation, medicine, natural resources, and the sciences. Since our founding in 1967, our curatorial team has actively collected objects of national significance that preserve the stories of their creators, users, and role in Canadian culture. Due to Canada’s unique history, culture, and geography, there is no other collection like this in the world.

The Ingenium Collection’s data is situated in particular practices and language that are continually evolving. For some, the data here will provide the thrill of discovery; for others, there is sensitive content that can cause discomfort. For this reason, each artifact offers a feedback option. Please know that your experiences and your voice are an important part of our national collection.

While the collection in this database is presented digitally, we also acknowledge that the physical collection resides on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin people.

Language of the Data

The data are presented in the language in which they were entered into the database. Most data are in English.

Collection API

The Ingenium Collection API is a REST-like service that allows developers to explore and build applications using Ingenium's extensive collections of artifacts.

Take a look at our interactive API documention to learn how to query and interpret results.

All of our APIs require the use of an API key. Instructions for obtaining your API key are available on our Using the API

If you use the Ingenium Collection API to design a public project, please consider sending it our way! We'd love to share it alongside other projects created with our API.