According to the institution's by-laws, the Museum is authorized to collect, preserve, and maintain objects and properties related to the history of immigration and migration on the Lower East Side of New York City and to the culture of its inhabitants. The Museum seeks to use its collections to help connect the past with the present and support its mission "to promote tolerance and historical perspective through the presentation and interpretation of the variety of immigrant and migrant experiences on Manhattan's Lower East Side, a gateway to America."

Objects discovered in 97 Orchard Street after the Museum moved into the building in 1988, as well as items donated by former residents, shopkeepers, owners, and their descendents. The types of objects include clothing, household accessories, food containers, furniture, photographs, textiles, and toilet articles. The Museum will collect objects for its permanent collection that have primary historical significance to 97 Orchard Street and any other properties that it interprets.

The Museum collects objects for use in public exhibitions and educational programs. This exhibition collection is similar in type of objects to the Museum's permanent collection, but the artifacts do not have primary historical significance to 97 Orchard Street or the Lower East Side.

The Museum will accept loans as part of its collection for a specified period of time. Objects in the loan collection must significantly enhance the interpretation of 97 Orchard Street and/or be used in a temporary exhibition sponsored by the Tenement Museum.

The archives consist of documents related to 97 Orchard Street, the Tenement Museum, and other tenements on the Lower East Side and a collection of oral histories recorded with Lower East Side residents, shopkeepers, and landlords. The Museum's photographic archives contain prints and photographs of 97 Orchard Street, its former residents, other Lower East Side buildings, neighborhood street scenes, and tenements throughout New York City.

The Tenement Museum’s photography collection consists of approximately 1,000 photographs depicting 97 Orchard Street, individuals associated with it, and the local neighborhood. Highlights of the collection include images of former residents of 97 Orchard Street taken in photography studios, outside of 97 Orchard Street, and on its roof. Included in this collection are photographs of the building’s landlords and shopkeepers, many actually standing in the building’s storefronts. The collection also includes images of the interiors of 97 Orchard Street, documenting changes to the building while it was a residence, as well as a Museum.

The Museum also possesses discrete collections of photographs of the Lower East Side beginning in the 1930s. For example, photographs of street scenes and housing conditions taken by Arnold Eagle and members of the Photo League illustrate the neighborhood’s declining population. Edmund V. Gillon, Jr.’s photographs from the 1970s depict the increasing presence of immigrants from China and the Dominican Republic, as well as Puerto Rican and African American migrants. Photographs of the area taken since the Museum’s founding in 1988 portray gentrification pressures competing with the needs of working-class immigrants.

While the Museum’s tenement at 97 Orchard Street is well-documented in the collection, the Museum does not contain a comprehensive collection of photographs depicting other buildings in the neighborhood. Researchers interested in finding a picture of a specific building should check the “tax photographs” collection of the Municipal Archives.

The Museum is in the process of developing an on-line database for researchers interested in viewing this collection. In the meantime, researchers interested in the collection should e-mai: dgolpinar@tenement.org.

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum's collections consist of objects suitable for display, research, and loan. The Museum acquires objects for its collection via gift, purchase, exchange, transfer, field collections, excavations, and loans. Each acquisition is considered on the basis of its ability to further the Museum's Collections Statement of Mission and the Museum's ability to care for, use, and benefit from the object.

Objects to be considered for accessioning as part of the permanent collection should be in accordance with the Museum's mission statement and have a direct association with 97 Orchard Street or other historic sites interpreted by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

The curatorial staff will consider accessioning artifacts that are suitable for exhibition or teaching purposes but do not have primary historical or artistic significance to the Museum's properties.

The curatorial staff will acquire the Museum's institutional records in accordance with the institutions' purposes, stated policies, and resources. The curatorial staff may consider accessioning other documentary materials or copies of such materials that have a direct association with 97 Orchard Street or other historic sites interpreted by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.