The Wisconsin Insect Research Collection (WIRC), is home to nearly 3,000,000 curated specimens. The collection also houses more than 5,000,000 additional uncurated specimens in bulk, primarily in ethyl alcohol. The Wisconsin collection is the result of nearly 170 years of collecting by amateur and professional entomologists. Early collecting efforts focused on increasing holdings of Coleoptera, Diptera, and Lepidoptera, while the current research strengths of the WIRC include Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, and Hemiptera. This diversity reflects the ongoing research of curatorial and support staff as well as taxonomic graduate training and several key collection donations. Active taxonomic teaching and research programs and involvement in state and regional inventory projects have contributed to a sustained growth of the collection by an average of 31,000 specimens per year in recent years.