2004, the museum ceased operating these off-site storage facilities, after it relocated items held there to a new storage space within the new museum building. The museum's collection originated from the artifacts and archival materials originally held at Cartier Square Military Museum in 1880; including an assortment of weapons; a bell from , the flagship for Admiral Charles Saunders during the 1759 siege of Quebec; and the colours for the Royal Highland Emigrants, and various units from the War of 1812. The collection grew in size during the First World War, with materials from the war transported back to Canada. Following the end of World War II in Europe, the museum dispatched its first collections acquisition team to the Netherlands and Allied-occupied Germany to acquire a large number of German military equipment. During the Cold War, the museum's collection continued to expand with the Canadian Armed Forces transferring its obsolete equipment, as well as examples of enemy equipment to the museum. During the 1990s, the museum also began to acquire a number of materials as gifts from several post-Soviet states. In 1994, the museum's collection held approximately 6,550 posters; with 3,770 posters originating from Canada, 692 from the United Kingdom, 612 from the United States, and the remaining from a variety of countries in Europe, and Australia. In 2019, 39 of the 99 original Victoria Crosses that were awarded to Canadians are held in the collections of the Canadian War Museum. War art As of 2015, the museum's Beaverbrook Collection of War Art contained over 13,000 pieces of military art. The majority of the war artworks in the collection are on paper, although these works are less often used in museum exhibits than their on canvas counterparts. The museum has been invested in several Canadian war art programs since 1971, after the National Gallery of Canada handed over management of the Canadian War Memorial Fund, and over 5,000 works from its Canadian War Records Collections to the war museum; including all of its war art from the Second World War. The museum's military art collection takes its name from Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, who established the art collection that later became the Canadian War Records. Although the museum's war art collection included over 13,000 works, only 64 of these pieces depicted a dead body as of 2017. The museum's collection of war art includes over 400 works by Alex