The treasuries entrusted to NAAM include collections of the very first inhabitants who lived on the Antillean Islands five thousand years ago as well as later population segments from African, European, Asian and local origin. These objects can be as small as a button and as large as a millstone. Everything is registered, photographed, entered into the database and kept in the depot or loaned to third parties. While the archaeological collections stem from various sources, the anthropological heritage consists mainly of the approximately 3000 artifacts of the Afro-Caribbean culture that have been collected by father Paul Brenneker and Elis Juliana (see Anthropological collection, below).

Archaeological collection
Father Antonius van Koolwijk (1878 – 1880) was the first one to start archaeological research in Curacao. In the following years several other persons have continued his work. The results of these studies have been collected in the depositories of AAINA (NAAM’s predecessor). After the foundation of NAAM, these collections were transferred to NAAM on behalf of the country of the Netherlands Antilles.

Anthropological collection
Halfway the 20th century father Paul Brenneker, a Dutch priest, started researching and recording the local culture, with special attention to songs and stories. He was joined in the sixties by artist and researcher Elis Juliana. For this research they visited hundreds of elderly persons in Curacao and Bonaire as sources of information with a rich knowledge about local culture, philosophy and art.

Aruban collections
In 2007 the bulk of the Aruban archaeological collections have been transferred to the country Aruba and maintenance was taken over by the Archeological Museum Aruba (AMA).

Collections outside the Caribbean
Besides the locally maintained heritage there are several collections that can be found abroad, like in the Rijksmuseum of Ethnology in Leiden, The Netherlands. In 1985 a part of that collection was repatriated by the Rijksmuseum of Ethnology. It includes artifacts as well as documentation. These artifacts are the results of archaeological research in Saba and St. Eustatius and are currently stored in the depositories of Universities as Leiden and the College of William and Mary in Virginia. There are also several collections, owned by private persons and kept in their homes.