The permanent collection includes approximately 150 sculptures, 250 paintings and many artifacts. Some of the artists represented include the Taos school (i.e. E.I Couse, Oscar Berninghaus). The Museum has many works by both deceased and living western artists of the 20th and 21st centuries—George Phippin, Fred Harman, Robert Lougheed, Harold Von Schmidt and Will James, Oreland Joe to name a few.

The Museum also holds as part of its permanent collection an extensive research library, which includes over 3000 volumes and an equal number of periodicals. These cover everything to do with the West – history, art, railroads, cattle drives – and include the specific history of the artists whose works are in the vaults.