The collection includes a wide range of objects from everyday life and items for crafts and trades. Workshop equipment is an important feature. Modern technologies are present in the collection in the form of objects such as computers, electrical devices and means of communication.

The collection includes globes, surveying instruments (16th-20th century) and automated devices. Some of the objects, such as the famous 16th-century terrestrial and celestial globe from St Gallen, are part of Zurich Central Library’s permanent loan collection.