[2] Through the Courtney Library the museum also provides a collection of rare books and manuscripts to help with education, research and the discovery of Cornish life and culture.

The museum also highlights Cornwall's relationship with the wider world through one of the most significant British emigrations of the 19th century.

The Grade II building which has housed the RIC since 1919 was built in 1845 as the Truro Savings Bank and subsequently became Henderson's Mining School.

[10][11] The collection includes work by Barbara Hepworth, Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Bernard Leach, Ben Nicholson, Denis Mitchell and Dod Procter.

[13] They were unwrapped in 1828 after which a limited re-wrapping was carried out using mostly original bandages but with modern material used on the lower part of his left leg.