One month after a $100-million waterfront project ground to a halt in Saint John, supporters haven't given up hope that a new, New Brunswick Museum will be built.

In the meantime, though, there's growing concern about some of the province's most precious artifacts.

For decades, a 1930s-era building was the storage facility for countless historically-significant relics from New Brunswick's past.

In more recent years, the collections centre has been described as overcrowded and inadequate to safely store all of the items that the museum has amassed.

“You have exhibits there and artifacts that belong to the people of New Brunswick that have been donated in good faith, by people over the decades,” said UNBSJ history professor Greg Marquis. “It's the oldest museum in Canada, so it's kind of a cultural property that we really need to protect.”

Until last month, there was a proposal to build a new museum on the Saint John waterfront, but that plan was scuttled, with no alternative being identified for the aging collections centre.

“Government after government provincially, Liberal and Conservative, kicked this can down the road,” said Liberal MP Wayne Long. “(They) pushed this forward and avoided actually addressing the situation but, facts are facts.  The Douglas Avenue facility is outdated. It's unsafe, it's unhealthy, and almost beyond repair.”

The museum project on the waterfront came to an abrupt halt last month, when the Higgs government put the brakes on several major infrastructure projects province-wide.

However, there is still some optimism locally, that the museum project can eventually be revived.

Some officials say the waterfront location, and the tourists the museum would attract, are too important to give up on.

“You know it's 100,000 visitors that come every year to Saint John,” said Liberal MLA Gerry Lowe. “That's important to the economy of Saint John. So you know, I'm still hopeful. There hasn't been much said in the past month, past five weeks, but the land’s there, the building is down, there's drawings -- there's a lot of stuff done. I think they’re just looking everything over.”

The new provincial government has not indicated how long it will take to review the museum project and decide the fate of the collections centre and the artifacts stored inside.

The New Brunswick Museum reiterated todaythat there is an urgency, when it comes to the conditions at the collections centre on Douglas Avenue. 

A spokesman for the museum says they're dealing with the issues as they arise and hope to get a more positive signal from the provincial government in the weeks and months to come.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron.