Over 60% of the collection is composed of the drawings, graphics, and paintings of ethnographers, scholars, and artists seeking to document objects associated with peasant culture (forms, motifs, and styles), folk customs and scenes from peasant life (festivals and major events), and the peasant environment in general (settlements, architecture, etc.). The collection is of inestimable value not for its artistic aspects, but for its realistic portrayal of objects from a lost world, preserved using a variety of artistic techniques.

The creators of the drawings, graphics, and paintings found in the collection include professionals from the worlds of both art and science. Painters represented include Árpád Feszty, Ákos Garay, István Benyovszky, Aladár edvi-Illés, Jenő Horváth, Árpád Juhász, Jenő Koszkol, Vince Melka, Mária Undi, György Vastagh, István Zichy and others. Some of the more prominent names among scientists whose works appear in the collection are those of Ottó Herman, János Xántus, Jenő Huszka, Gyula László, János Jankó, István Györffy, Ferenc Gönczi, and Sándor Gönyey.

Another major group of works in the collection is composed of various artefacts made of paper, such as graphics, paper art, sewing and embroidery patterns, commemorative cards, paper cuttings, etc. The artists who created these works were masters of various trades, such as carpenters, woodcutters, potters, dyers, bakers, coat-makers, weavers, embroiderers, house painters, etc., or students, village children, or even amateurs painters. These people were of varying educational backgrounds, their works falling into several possible subcategories: shop drawings used by tradespeople (various patterns, muster books, etc.), embroidery patterns, pictures that decorated homes, children's drawings, and amateur paintings and drawings. To facilitate research, the collection offers topical and geographical indexes and listing of artists, all updated daily. The geographical index is arranged according to general practice, with items listed alphabetically by county and settlement as per the 1913 Hungarian Index of Place Names, while the index of artists lists names in the order of inventory number. Whenever a single artist has contributed more than one drawing or painting, the inventory numbers involved are listed on a single card in ascending order.At the time the collection was founded, work on an alphabetic title card system was begun, only to be abandoned in the 1960's in exchange for the internally consistent indexing system still used for all of the museum's collections today. The title index is still available for visitors who wish access to the drawings collection, but has only been completed through inventory number 7000. The indexes of topic, geographical location, artist, and title together form a complete reference system and may all be used within the catalogue of the Museum of Ethnography Archives.

More than 70% of the collection's 9062 prints (inventory code Ny) consists of postcards and stationery depicting folk themes, particularly costumes, traditional lifestyles, and folk customs, not only from Hungary, but from various locations all over the world. Most of these pertain to the turn of the century, since private collectors have tended to concentrate on this period in history. Because the professional (topical) index has only been completed through the 2600th of 9062 items, researchers searching for images on a particular theme must look through most of the prints one by one.

The curator of the collection is Zsuzsanna Tasnádi.

The holdings also include several unique and highly valuable pieces, such as the 1813 Karacs Map of Hungary and the 1850 series of cadastre maps produced by county assayers for tracking manorial holdings between 1856 and 1915. Research on the maps is facilitated by an inventory listing, a system of cards bearing descriptions of each item, and a geographical index. Certain items have also been made part of a database management program. The map collection does not include the working drafts used for the Ethnographic Atlas project begun in the 1950's.

The curator of the collection is Zsuzsanna Tasnádi.