Items such as delicate hair portraits or hand-coloured embroidery patterns bear witness to craft techniques, some of which have long since been forgotten, and offer insights into the everyday culture of various social groups.

The extensive collection of waist pouches is internationally renowned. These magnificent belts served carters and other tradespeople both for protection and for storing personal belongings, and their ornamentation provided an indication of their owners' social status.

The collection of porcelain beer mug lid medallions comprises almost 1,000 pieces. These round inserts for beer mug lids provided space for personal motifs such as Alpine landscapes, hunting scenes or guild symbols. However, some subjects, such as the often sexist depictions of women, are viewed critically today.

New to the Volkskundemuseum Wien's Online Collection Plus: problematic terms in original texts are contextualised within their history of origin and usage through the implementation of a glossary.

The popular range of 3D models has also been further expanded. The animated models enable virtual exploration tours and can be viewed particularly well from all angles. During the refurbishment of its Laudongasse site (opening in 2027), the museum is thus laying the foundations for an innovative and participatory digital museum of the future.

Around 350 items in the textile and clothing collection at the Volkskundemuseum Wien come from the estate of the fashion designer Emilie Flöge (1874–1952), of which 50 have been published to date. In keeping with the tastes of the century, Flöge collected examples of textile folk art, which she also used as a source of inspiration and material for the creations of her fashion salon.

Eleonore Grant (1930–2021) expressed her artistic talent in a different way: around 1945/46, she created personal, imaginatively illustrated booklets featuring personified flowers, insects and mythical creatures as gifts for her family.

The selected items from the estate of Eugenie Goldstern (1884–1942) include correspondence, manuscripts, sketches, drafts for publications, as well as lists of collection items and handwritten notes. Digital cataloguing makes it possible to make the work and achievements of this significant scholar within the male-dominated field of ethnology publicly accessible and to link them with the photographs and object collections held by the museum.

Following the successful digitisation of the first thousand slides, the photocollection continued with the cataloguing of the early glass positives bearing inventory numbers 1,001 to 2,000, and also focused on the collection of cartes de visite and cartes de cabinet of regional and international origin. The portrait and landscape photographs, popular between 1860 and 1915, contributed significantly to the spread of photography. Digitisation provides insights into contemporary photography and the zeitgeist of the late 19th century.

Furthermore, two collections of photographs document peaceful protests and the resulting political upheavals of the 20th century:

The 'Velvet Revolution' in Prague and Bratislava in 1989 heralded the end of socialism and the transition to a democratic order. The photographs document these historic events, which led to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia on January 1st 1993 and the founding of the independent Czech and Slovak Republics. Due to the shared historical connection with Austria, this political development is of great significance to the museum.

On January 23th 1993, around 300,000 people gathered at Heldenplatz in Vienna for the so-called 'Lichtermeer' (engl. sea of lights) to demonstrate against racism and xenophobia. Staff from the Volkskundemuseum Wien captured the participants, placards and atmosphere on camera. This demonstration, the largest in the history of the Second Republic to date, sent an important signal for democratic civil society and represents a key moment in the history of the Republic of Austria.