While several hundred objects from MoPOP’s collection are on display at any one time in the museum, more than 80,000 pieces are under our care.
MoPOP’s permanent collection — much of which is stored in a physical “vault” — spans the breadth of the pop culture canon and also features one of the finest assemblages of popular music-related artifacts in existence. This rich archive provides the foundation for exhibitions and programs that explore themes tied to popular culture. Additionally, we make the collection available to scholars, journalists, and other researchers for study and to other cultural organizations for loan.
With the aim of preservation and public access, our permanent collection includes artworks, musical instruments, photographs, manuscripts, posters, zines, fliers, sound recordings, clothing, and more. Our oral history archive includes more than 1,100 recorded interviews conducted by MoPOP’s curators with musicians, filmmakers, authors, creators, and other luminaries who have shaped our cultural landscape.
We invite you to spark your pop culture curiosity through our online collection vault which features a sampling of objects within our permanent collection, selected by our curators and organized into content areas. Additional objects and content areas will be added by our Curatorial and Collections staff at a steady pace, with the ultimate goal of presenting our entire permanent collection to the public as an educational resource.
Content Areas
Grunge
Sometimes known as the “Seattle Sound,” runge came into international prominence in the early 1990s with the critical and commercial success of bands such as Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, and others.
Guitars
While fretted and stringed chordophones appear in many world cultures across several millennia, the modern guitar has a long history in popular music as a fundamental component of folk, jazz, blues, country, rock, and other music styles.
Hendrix
MoPOP was originally conceived in the early 1990s as a museum dedicated to Jimi Hendrix’s life, legacy, and career. This focus evolved and broadened over time, but Hendrix still remains a vital part of the museum, with a constant display presence and several thousand objects in the permanent collection.
Hip-Hop
Science-Fiction
Science-fiction is a genre that defies easy definition but in general emphasizes big ideas and a sense of wonder, often within a framework of the effects of technology or future possibilities on humanity or other sentient beings.
Highlights
Iconic objects, hand-selected from MoPOP curators, from across genre and time period, are showcased here in order to highlight the breadth of MoPOP’s permanent collection.
Learn more about the Online Collection Vault + explore additional Into the Vault-type content from MoPOP.
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