The World Cultures Collections of the Redpath Museum include close to 17 000 archaeological and ethnological artifacts. Their geographic scope is global, with the exception of material relating to Canada's First Nations, now part of the McCord Museum. The Redpath holdings are an important national resource and in many cases represent some of the earliest ethnological materials held by North American museums. Archaeological and ethnological artifacts were part of the original collection at the Museum, although subordinate in number and emphasis to the natural history holdings. Additional material came to the Redpath from the Natural History Society of Montreal (1827-1926) and McGill's Ethnological Museum (see Lawson 1994, 1999).