Museums have taken their current shape in the mid-18th Century. Ever since, the State has developed relationships with this institution that evolved over time. Museum policies transformations reveal the ruptures as well as the political use and rationality of museums. This paper aims to shed light on the evolution of the political rationality of the State intervention in the museum sector, in Quebec. The relationship between the Quebec government and museums has evolved around three main political periods. First, museums have emerged as a useful tool (1836-1919) to assist the government in its territorial aspirations. In a second period (1919-1984), the relationship evolved on a cultural basis, and museums were increasingly seen as tools driven by cultural heritage aspirations and by concerns of heritage accessibility. Museums are public services. In the national museum policy, museums are seen as an important catalyst of Quebec’s cultural aspirations. Finally, the most recent iteration of this relationship opens to a new rationality where the State focuses less on cultural preoccupations and approaches museums from a sectoral lens. Museum policies (1984-2013) are comprehended as a means to stabilize and regulate a sector, where the State’s cultural aspirations appear to be less salient.