When not on view in the museum's current exhibitions, the museum's collections are stored offsite at the Avenir Foundation Conservation and Collections Resource Center. Explore highlights from these diverse collections online.

The Textile Museum

The Textile Museum’s highly regarded collections of more than 20,000 handmade textiles and carpets from Middle Eastern, Asian, African, and indigenous American cultures represent five thousand years of humankind’s creative achievements in the textile arts. The 20,000-volume Arthur D. Jenkins Library is a leading resource for the study of textiles.

The Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection

The Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection documents the formation, development, and history of Washington, D.C., and the surrounding region from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century. It includes more than 1,000 remarkable maps, prints, rare letters, newspapers, photographs, and drawings, as well as an extensive reference library.