Galway City Museum, was founded in the mid-1970s and was originally located in Comerford House beside the Spanish Arch. Situated near the Spanish Arch on the mouth of the River Corrib, This city museum offers 3 floors of exhibitions of the materials relating to the archaeology, history, art, folklife and sea science of Galway.  The museum began as a collection of medieval stones acquired by artist Claire Sheridan of Comerford House and, over the years expanded to include general folk life, industrial and militia objects. 

In April 2007 the new purpose built museum building was opened, located behind the site of Comerford House. The new building houses the collections of the previous city museum, as well as objects acquired for the new facility, although the majority of the collection is that which was inherited from Comerford House. The Comerford House collection includes almost 1,000 objects relating to various periods in history, collected over a period of about thirty years