Close-up of an artifact, indistinguishable aside from two sets of three yellow-bronze frames holding circular, translucent lenses. The lenses are red, blue, and black, with one set in square frames and the other in circular frames. The rest of the artifact's bronze apparatus can be seen out of focus in the background.

About the Collection

The Ingenium Collection is a depository of objects related to agriculture and food, aviation and space, communications, domestic technology, marine and land transportation, medicine, natural resources, and the sciences. Since our founding, our staff have 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 collection object offers a feedback option. When cataloguing library and archival material, original language is maintained to provide evidence of the historical context in which it was created. Staff seek to add information that corrects or enhances understanding of the content. If you have information you’d like to share, please use the feedback option. 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 objects.

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.