The Museum collects printed and manuscript materials, maps, photographs, motion picture film, digital materials, video and audio recordings (such as oral histories), paintings, artifacts and other items which deal with the Enlarged Erie Canal, the Old Erie Canal, the New York State Barge Canal, the lateral canals, and the pre-Erie Canals of New York State.
Diaries written by David Earl Whitford and his children, Lizzie Whitford, Marie Whitford, and Oscar Whitford. David Earl Whitford was a New York State Engineer.