The National Collection of Freshwater Invertebrates was founded in 1972 from the amalgamation of several institutional collections. Between 1950 and 1970 the National Institute for Water Research (NIWR) of the CSIR undertook a number of surveys of the fauna, flora and physicochemistry of many South African rivers. As a result, large collections of plants and animals were identified and described by local and overseas scientists. It was realised that these valuable collections needed proper storage and curation facilities to reach their full potential. Mr C F Jacot-Guillarmod, then Director of the Albany Museum, offered to accommodate these collections and they were transferred to the Museum in 1972. This material, together with existing collections and the donation of Prof Joseph and Dr Joyce Omer-Cooper's collections of aquatic beetles, founded the National Collection of Freshwater Organisms. The Algal and Diatom collections were retained by the CSIR in Pretoria and hence the collection is now more appropriately named the National Collection of Freshwater Invertebrates. The collection is continually expanding through an active departmental research programme and donations and voucher specimens from projects carried out by other researchers.

The collection holds in excess of 1.5 million specimens including over 1000 primary and secondary types. It comprises ethanol preserved specimens in small glass-vials, stored in more than 4500 sealed glass jars; pinned specimens of selected adult insects in unit trays stored in 160 drawers; microscope slide mounted specimens and a photographic record of selected specimens and sites sampled. The collection provides historical records of species with some material dating back to the 1930's. Information on more than 120 000 accessions is recorded in hand written catalogues and on a computer database for ease of access. Several card index systems allow access to publications and specimens, and rapid identification of species from diagnostic drawings. There is also a departmental library holding journals and books and about 180 boxes of reprints.

All groups of aquatic invertebrates are represented in the collection although research concentrates on aquatic insects and specialises in Trichoptera and Simuliidae (Dr Ferdy de Moor) and Ephemeroptera (Mrs Helen Barber-James). The collection covers the entire Afrotropical Region but active research and growth is largely restricted to the southern African subcontinent. Research produces scientific and popular publications and identification guides. Identification services on African aquatic insects, including material from other African countries, are offered. Updated lists of South African Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, Megaloptera, Trichoptera and aquatic Hemiptera, Coleoptera and Diptera (Simuliidae) families are maintained. Additional lists of Aquatic Arthropods are included in Dr Martin Villet's web page.

Departmental staff annually teach courses on aquatic entomology to undergraduate and postgraduate students at Rhodes University, Zoology and Entomology Department and students make use of the collection for research. Occasional workshops on identification techniques of aquatic invertebrates are run by the department. Staff assist with museum displays, give lectures to school groups and assist with school projects. Close working associations with Rhodes University's Institute for Water Research, the University of Cape Town's Freshwater Research Unit, the Water Research Commission and Umgeni Waters, are maintained.