The most ancient artefacts in the museum are tools made by hunter-gatherers who walked the shores of the Severn estuary hundreds of thousands of years ago.

[3] In October 2011 the council apologised for The Institute of Mental Health is Burning exhibition, where explicit sex scenes were put on display (and published in a free supplement) without any warning notices.

[5] Possibly the final temporary exhibition, Shift, by Welsh artist David Garner was launched in April 2013 following a public demonstration against the proposed closure.

Garner created a special artwork, A Case of the Great Money Trick, which was inspired by the campaign to keep the gallery open.

In March 2012 it was reported that the Chartist Mural by Kenneth Budd in John Frost Square was to be recreated in Newport Central Library as part of the redevelopment of the area.