For more than a century, the RISD Museum has been actively collecting art and design objects representing global artistic traditions from ancient times to the present. In any given year, several hundred objects enter the collection through donation, purchase, and bequest. As part of the museum's anti-racist work plan, the RISD Museum is committed to spending at least 75% of our acquisitions budget on work by underrepresented makers.* In fiscal year 2023, the museum spent $TK on new acquisitions from our endowed acquisitions fund, $TK (TK%) of which went toward the purchase of work by BIPOC, women, and LGBTQIA2S+ artists and makers. Acquisitions come into the museum collection by donation, bequest, or purchase. Purchased objects are paid for with funds that are restricted to this purpose and cannot legally be spent elsewhere at the museum. That is, these dollars are earmarked specifically to expand our collection in order to enrich the learning experiences of our visitors.

Highlights from our recent acquisitions include works by two RISD Native American alumnae: "Breach: Logbook 21/Nebulous/Artifice CSW2" by Courtney Leonard (Shinnecock and RISD MFA 2008, Ceramics) as well as "Reincarnation" and "Shard" by Rose B. Simpson (Kah'p'oo Owinge/Santa Clara Pueblo and RISD MFA 2011, Ceramics); work by Emma Amos; two works by Gee’s Bend quilters Ruth Pettway Mosley and Sally Bennett Jones; and a painting by RISD alumnus Nathaniel Oliver, which was the first sale to a museum by HOUSING, the Black-owned and operated gallery that represents him.

Providing access to the collection in the galleries and online offers opportunities to deeply engage with art, artists, ideas, and perspectives that can be unexpected, inspiring, and complex. As part of our open access policy, we provide information about our collection objects on the museum's website. This includes everything from dimensions and materials to how an object came into the collection. Our Creative Commons Universal dedication means that digital images of any objects in the public domain are also available for any purpose. New digital products for which the RISD Museum is not the sole rights holder—for example a photograph of a copyrighted artwork—are made available for fair use as defined in the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 (17 U.S.C, section 107). We want our collection, scholarship, and interpretive content to be accessed, distributed, and reused by everyone.

Conservation encompasses many activities that ensure the safety and longevity of our collection objects, including cleaning and polishing, repairs, removal or mitigation of hazardous materials, matting and framing, material identification, photography, stabilization, and addressing proper storage needs. Applying preventive conservation techniques ensures that objects can be shared with the public in a manner that is safe for staff, visitors, and the objects alike. The number of objects treated and re-housed each year can vary widely, depending on the size, medium, and the extent of any deterioration.