The museum is currently the seventh largest insect collection in North America with more than seven million specimens of terrestrial and freshwater arthropods.

The principal roles of the museum are to support research at the graduate and undergraduate levels, informatics and diagnostics, and educational outreach.

Professor Emeritus of entomology Richard M. Bohart was the museum's founder and principal contributor.

The museum also houses teaching insect collections for undergraduate level entomology courses taught on campus.

These specimens come from museum based field studies, university faculty, and student research programs.