The Anthropology Museum has built it collections through donations from community members and other area museums. In addition to numerous smaller donations, the Museum has received three major collections:
- The Ellins Collection: 151 examples of contemporary Native American art, principally from the American Southwest
- The Salenger Collection: 53 items from around the world, mostly masks and weapons from Africa and New Guinea
- The Webb Collection: 87 prehistoric and historic ceramic vessels from the American Southwest, mostly Puebloan and Navajo