In addition to its permanent collection, the Canadian Museum of History also co-manages collections with other institutions. In July 1999, the museum entered an agreement with the Canadian Nursing Association (CNA), the Canadian War Museum, and the National Archives of Canada to create the Canadian Nursing History Collection. This collection includes over 9,000 photographs, 1,600 audiovisual materials, and over of textual records from the CNA, the Nursing Sisters Association of Canada, and the Helen Mussallem Collection. Approximately 950 documented artifacts from this collection are deposited at the Canadian Museum of History. Items from the collection at the Canadian Museum of History include 167 nurses' caps, dating from 1895 to 1983. In June 2005, the museum opened a temporary exhibition that focused on this collection.
