The Alexandria Archaeology Museum has an extraordinary collection of well preserved artifacts from excavations in the city of Alexandria, Virginia. The collection plays an important role in relating the history of Alexandria and the history of every-day life in America to students, Alexandria residents, and visitors from around the world. The breadth and depth of this collection make it one of the foremost collections for use in comparative studies in historic and urban archaeology. The collection contains over 2,000,000 artifacts, collected since 1965 from more than 150 archaeological sites in the City of Alexandria, Virginia.

The collection includes artifacts from the late 17th through the early 20th centuries, as well as from prehistoric periods. Artifacts from many sites can be related through historical records to individual people, homes and businesses. These sites represent a diverse cross- section of Alexandria society. Sites include homes of free African Americans, slaves, Quakers, and Alexandria merchants; early taverns, shoemakers, comb maker, potteries, glass factory, cabinet maker, copper and tin smiths, doctor’s office, apothecary shop, newspaper office, and a sugar refinery.

The collection includes many exceptionally well-preserved objects recovered from deep features such as wells and privies. Leather, wood and cloth preserved from water-logged contexts include over 100 shoes, 200 pieces of cloth including gloves and stockings, wooden toys, and furniture pieces. The glass and ceramics collections include thousands of restored vessels, and many more thousands of fragments. The ceramics include the largest collection of Staffordshire wares in North America, as well as an assortment of earthenware and stoneware manufactured in Alexandria.

Around 2,000 artifacts are used in the museum in exhibitions, study collections, and hands-on educational programs, or are on loan for exhibition in other museums including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The remainder of the collection is stored systematically in a secure, climate controlled storage facility, and is used for research and changing exhibitions.

• Highlights" from the Alexandria Archaeology Collection
  There is a story behind each artifact. Here are just a few.
• Caring for the Collections
  How we care for the collection through policies, procedures and storage at the new Alexandria Archaeology Storage Facility.
• Collections at other Historic Alexandria Museum
  Find out about collections at other City-owned museums, including:
  • Civil war artifacts at Fort Ward Museum
  • 18th century tavern furnishings at Gadsby’s Tavern Museum
  • Objects, photos and documents at the Alexandria Black History Museum
  • Artifacts illustrating Alexandria’s history, including furniture, silver and stoneware made by early Alexandrians, at The Lyceum