A recent Central Otago District Council audit of the collection catalogued 4707 items, many dating back to the gold rush period, compared with the town's population at the 2013 census, 4146.
Last week, the Cromwell Museum Trust was established to care for those artefacts, and tonight it is holding its first meeting in the hopes of finding trustees and volunteers to assist with the running of the museum, located in the Cromwell mall.
One of the two existing trustees and Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust chairman, Martin Anderson said the group's aim was to preserve and enhance the collection.
''It's [the aim] to manage the collections and also to encourage people to protect their heritage by donating items to the museum, and as an educational purpose as well.''
Artefacts from across the wider Cromwell area were held at the museum, and it was hoped trustees which represented the whole area could be found.
The other trustee, Cromwell Genealogy Group convener Edith McKay, said the trust also planned to create a research room at the museum where people could look up and research their family history.
Heritage was ''very'' important for people, and many visited Cromwell for that reason, she said.
''We have a tremendous collection of stuff that the people need to see ... people from overseas come into the town looking for this history.''
Mr Anderson said he thought people were more often looking to their heritage, and the museum would help them build an appreciation of what was around them.
''I believe it is becoming more and more important to try to focus the community on the value of its heritage collections, stories, landscapes and buildings.''
The purpose of the meeting tonight was to inform the public, and give them a chance to ask questions about the museum, Mr Anderson said.
People would be invited to think about who would be suitable trustees, and word would be put out to gather volunteers to help with the running of the museum.
Up to five more trustees were required, for a total of between five and seven, including Mr Anderson and Mrs McKay, who were the founding trustees.
Mrs McKay said some funding for the museum was provided for the museum. However, the trust would have to find more in the future.
Establishing a trust to manage the museum, a council requirement, had been discussed since the proposal three or four years ago to move the Cromwell i-Site out of the building, and had been discussed with the council for about two years, she said.
The meeting will be held in the Golden Gate Lodge conference centre at 7.30pm this evening.
