The collection was founded in the early post-war years with purchases from the collection of the Lower Saxony historian Heinrich Spanuth (1873-1958). The basis of the collection thus created consists mainly of copies of clay vessels from all periods of German prehistory and early history, although the Roman cultural area is not included. In 1954, a large number of Paleolithic stone artifacts from France were acquired from a private collection in Bad Pyrmont. Various donations from students, colleagues and private individuals, as well as from the “Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn”, for example, expanded the teaching collection between 1955 and the 1960s to include objects from the surrounding region. In 1962, a large number of misfired pottery pieces from early modern Siegburg potteries were added to the collection, followed in 1964 by a Roman brick stamp from Echzell and Middle Paleolithic artifacts discovered near Wiesbaden.

A considerable portion of the collection also comes from rather unusual sources: In the years from 1961 to 1971, field trips, particularly in Italy, brought together a large number of reading finds that are useful for teaching precisely because of their inconspicuous nature. Most recently, in the 1990s, around 1,000 objects from Roman Mainz were added to the teaching collection on permanent loan from the Mainz Archaeological Heritage Service.