The Finnish Labour Museum Werstas has recorded Finnish social history and the history of working life from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day. The collections comprise about 70,000 objects and some 350,000 photographs.
The social historical collections of the museum contains material about the history of the co-operative movement, the workers’ movement, workers’ cultural activities and different kinds of popular movements, among other things. Werstas also has extensive collections relating to the events of 1917–1918 when Finland separated from Russia and fought a civil war and the collections contain material about different kinds of marginal phenomena in society. Working environments and practices, working cultures, occupational safety, unemployment and the trade union movement are some of the focal themes when collecting historical material pertaining to working life.