2013. In 2013, the collections of the dissolved Tartumaa Museum were transferred to ERM. Until 1991, the museum was known as the Elva Interdistrict Local History Museum, and its area of activity was Old Tartumaa. For this reason, the museum’s collections also include material from Valgamaa, Põlvamaa, and Jõgevamaa.
The collection comprises 35,302 museum objects and is divided into the following collections: object collection, photo collection, archival collection, art collection, archaeological collection, zoological collection, and geological collection. The core of the art collection consists of works by Eduard Kutsar, an artist who lived in Elva. Among the archaeological materials are the Laguja hoard, containing jewellery and everyday objects dating from the 16th century, the Koruste hoard from the 15th–16th centuries, and the Tamme treasure hoard, consisting mainly of 17th-century coins.
To distinguish materials from the Tartumaa Museum from other ERM collections, the accession book code TM is used (the numerical field TRT in the Museums Web Portal).