The first of its kind, the Museum of Bags is the repository of an exceptional collection totaling more than 7,000 pieces. It includes objects of paper, plastic, ceramic, silver, glass, straw, vinyl, and burlap. It houses landmark artist's designs, such as Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup Can bag and Roy Lichtenstein's Thanksgiving Turkey bag. Its subjects cover politics (LBJ for the USA), sports (Olympics 1952), and world events (Silver Jubilee of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth 1952).

Bags in the collection date from the late 1800s to the present, and in origin from Helsinki, Finland, to Stuarts Draft, Virginia. Related pieces range from a book on cooking with paper bags (1911), to a rug made from plastic bags, and an original patent model of a bag-making machine for a patent issued in 1863.