Staff at a small, rural museum north of Winnipeg say they were surprised and disappointed to discover some items on display were stolen by a visitor earlier this month.

Cook's Creek Heritage Museum was robbed of an Adolf Hitler book and a Jewish badge at about noon on Aug. 1. Staff believe a woman in her 30s with a slightly heavy build and blond hair pocketed the items. She appeared to be with two young girls at the time.

Liz Hogue, the board president at the museum, said the museum is older and not all of their artifacts are in display cases. Regardless, she said they haven't had a theft in more than 20 years.

"We're a small community museum. As far as I know, we have never purchased an artifact — everything has been donated to us, has been given to us in trust to display," said Hogue. "It's a lot of personal memories, personal stories."

The museum has reported the theft to RCMP, Hogue said.

The museum is encouraging anyone who might have information about the incident to call RCMP at 204-983-5420 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.