Collections

Bison Effigy Pipe

NPS Photo

 

Pipestone National Monument's collections include over 100,000 items, including artifacts such as:

• carved and polished groundstone pipe bowls
• stone or wood pipe stems
• plain and decorated leather pipe bags
• chipped stone tools
• ceramic sherds
• archival documents, photographs, and maps
• natural history specimens such as insects and plants

Selected pipe bowls, stems, and other artworks are currently on display in the Visitor Center. These items reflect the breadth of carving styles people from different cultures executed at various points in time. Petroglyphs that were carved, incised or pecked into blocks of quartzite are also on display.

Portions of the Pipestone National Monument collections are at the Midwest Archaeological Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

For questions about donating items to the park's collections, please see our donations page.

Learn more about museum management in the National Park Service while taking virtual tours of numerous collections around the country.