Significance of the collection
Intended for use by scholars, the collection provides support in the form of visual documentation to the museum’s various focus areas, and is open to the public by appointment. Its pieces are of only minor artistic interest, being for the most part visual evidence of historical events.

Specialities of the collection
The drawings principally include designs, sketches for the small-format stained glass work so common in the Switzerland of the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition the collection includes topographical and historical representations, as well as project designs by craftsmen and women, sketches of traditional costumes, and drawings of military, ethnographic and touristic interest. Prints are limited to similar areas, although portraits, illustrations of Swiss history and townscapes predominate. Other groups of objects, such as postcards, baptismal certificates and national maps, round out the widely varied collection. Of special interest are a comprehensive collection of bookplates and drawings by the artist Ludwig Vogel of Zurich. The voluminous estates of the Dikenmann publishing house of Zurich, of Salomon Schlatter, an architect from the eastern region of Switzerland, and of Ernst Georg Gladbach were all bequeathed to the museum. The collection is continuously added to, with items from the 20th century enjoying increased priority. It also comprises a small selection of manuscripts and older prints.