Nelson Provincial Museum

The collections, professional staff and public research services are housed in the former museum building, which is located in Isel Park, Stoke.

The Literary and Scientific Institution of Nelson was founded in May 1841 in the Bay of Biscay amongst the officers of the preliminary Expedition of the Second Colony, on board the New Zealand Company's ships Whitby and Will-Watch.

[2] While a large number of books were acquired, subscribed to and collected by friends and associates of the Colony and Colonialists, the Committee noted that "they would be glad to receive maps, charts manuscripts, drawings, paintings, engravings, sculptures, casts, models of inventions and objects of natural history generally.

Independence grew throughout the 1960s with the relocation of the Museum firstly to the former home of the Marsden family (Isel House), and subsequently to a concrete block construction, designed by Alex Bowman, which opened in 1973.

In 2001 Tasman Bays Heritage Trust acquired a site on the corner of Hardy and Trafalgar Streets, Nelson, which formed part of the original Town Acre 445 block.