Over the course of the University's history, a number of works have been acquired for or donated to the University as a whole, rather than to a specific department or school. 34 of these works have been grouped together and classified as the Registry Collection. Recorded amongst the small collection at the Registry are works by New Zealand artists such as W.A. Sutton, Barry Cleavin, Tom Taylor, and Don Peebles. The collection also contains ceramic works by Mirek Smisek and Michael Cardew.

Of particular note in the Registry collection is W.A. Sutton's The Four Seasons: Summer, 1970. This painting belongs to The Four Seasons, 1968-1970, a major series in Sutton's artistic career. (Autumn is held at Te Papa, Winter at the Christchurch Art Gallery, and Spring at the Christchurch Club).

One of the University's rare pieces of sculpture also belongs in the Registry collection, 'The Navigator', by Italian sculptor Francesco Somaini (b.1926). The work was acquired by the University of Canterbury from the 'Contemporary Italian Artists' show, toured by the QEII Arts Council in 1966.

No signed works by the well known artist Grace Joel are held in the University's collections. However, there is a single attributed work in the Registry collection. This is an untitled oil painting showing a young woman in a garden at around the turn of the 19th century.