Postcards have a quiet yet significant place in the history of our community. In mid-nineteenth century, postcards were an inexpensive way to send brief messages quickly to friends and family, either close to home or across the country. At the height of their popularity in the early twentieth century, postcards accompanied the tourism boom, serving as a photographic collectable in an age where camera equipment wasn’t quite commercial. The widespread movement of photographic postcards depicting idyllic scenes helped promote tourism in cities and towns across the country.
Museum Chat Live! E602 – Victorian Tweets: Who Were the Victorians?
As modern, progressive people of the 21st century we enjoy a certain distance from the romanticized and contradictory Victorian period but are we really that different from our Victorian ancestors?
On this first episode of the special podcast series, we’ll explore what it means to be Victorian. We’ll hear some of the tweets and their original sources on this podcast, read and recoded by some familiar voices of staff and volunteers.
Museum Chat Live! E503 – Learning from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic
In early 2019, the St. Catharines Museum opened a temporary exhibition called Outbreak. The exhibit explores the 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic and tells a larger story about public health and disease in St. Catharines and Canada. We opened Outbreak to commemorate 100 years since the influenza pandemic, but we could have never guessed just how relevant this exhibit would become in light of the global pandemic we are currently facing.
Remembering Tom Hopkins
The St. Catharines Museum is mourning the loss of a wonderful and dedicated volunteer, Tom Hopkins. Tom passed away on Thursday, February 6, and will be greatly missed by everyone here at the Museum.
As a tribute to Tom, we would like to share sound clips of two of the many stories he loved to tell here at the Museum. Tom contributed these stories as part of our People and Places Exhibition Audio Guide in 2018.
Museum Chat Live! E309 – We Did Our Bit: Closing our WWI Exhibit
Our very popular WWI exhibition, Doing Our Bit: St. Catharines to the Western Front is officially closing its doors at […]
We Did Our Bit: WWI Exhibition Favourites Part 6 – Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary Stories
This is the sixth and final installment of the We Did Our Bit WWI exhibit-closing series. This post was contributed by […]
We Did Our Bit: WWI Exhibition Favourites Part 5 – Olive Weller’s Travel Diary
This is the fifth installment of the We Did Our Bit WWI exhibit-closing series. This post was contributed by Adrian […]
We Did Our Bit: WWI Exhibition Favourites Part 4 – Local Impact
This is the fourth installment of the We Did Our Bit WWI exhibit-closing series. Click to read the earlier posts in […]
We Did Our Bit: WWI Exhibition Favourites Part 3 – Bessie Beyer’s Uniform
This is the third installment of the We Did Our Bit series. Click to read earlier posts in the series here. This post […]
We Did Our Bit: WWI Exhibition Favourites Part 2 – The Trenches
This is the second installment of the We Did Our Bit series. Please see read the first post in series […]
We Did Our Bit: WWI Exhibition Favourites Part 1 – “Pip, Squeak and Wilfred”
After four great years, the St. Catharines Museum’s Doing Our Bit: WWI from St. Catharines to the Western Front exhibition […]
aMUSE is popping up at Rodman Hall!
The role of gender in advertising has been an issue in society since the advent of modern media and advertising methods. Over the years media sources have used methods that concentrate on sex and stereotypical images and ideas of the parts men and women play as consumers. Such methods have constructed a paradigm of how we view females and the roles they play in society, the most prominent being the housewife which began in the early 1950s.
Museum Chat Live E108 – The Fallen Workers
A staggering 137 men lost their lives as a result of accidents that occurred during the construction of the Welland Ship Canal. This number is shockingly high. To our knowledge, it is the largest loss of life in the history of Canadian government infrastructure projects.
#VintageSTCM: 50 Years of the St. Catharines Museum
The Museum’s vision and mission are a bit different than it was 50 years ago. Our community’s identity, how we study and present history, and the nature of museum-going have changed drastically over the last 50 years. And the Museum has changed with it. We now focus on an inclusive narrative for all those who live in our diverse city. The exhibit serves as a reminder of where we have come from and where we hope to go.
History InSite 2017
If you’re a history keener (like us) and are interested in taking a guided walking tour, you can meet Museum historians at the Festival Hub/Interactive Village on James Street on the hour between 11 am and 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday, April 29 and 30, 2017
Betty Lampard: St. Catharines’ first drama critic
Born in New York City, Betty’s interest in all things entertainment began at a young age. She was the daughter […]
St. Catharines’ own historic election
A historic election season is in full swing south of the border, with Hillary Clinton becoming the first woman to be a […]
Niagara’s Farmerettes
Living in the heart of Niagara’ fruit belt, one can easily imagine the stress to farms and food production caused […]
Three Marys, Leading the Way
The St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre’s exhibition “Leading the Way: Pioneering Women in St. Catharines” features three Marys, […]
Lillian Phelps: St. Catharines’ own suffragette
St. Catharines’ Lillian Phelps was a well-known activist and speaker at the turn of the century. Throughout most of Lillian’s […]
Gwendolyn Mulock: St. Catharines’ first female doctor
I first became aware of Gwendolyn Mulock, St. Catharines’ first female doctor, during preparation for the Museum’s 2014 Guided Spirit […]
A Farmer’s Life: Summer Snaphots
Frederick Thomas Lailey, the son of William H. Lailey came from Winona to farm in Grantham Township (now St. Catharines) […]
A Farmer’s Life: Summer Snapshots
Frederick Thomas Lailey, the son of William H. Lailey came from Winona to farm in Grantham Township (now St. Catharines) […]
A Farmer’s Life: Summer Snapshots
Frederick Thomas Lailey, the son of William H. Lailey came from Winona to farm in Grantham Township (now St. Catharines) […]
A Farmer’s Life: Summer Snapshots
Frederick Thomas Lailey, the son of William H. Lailey came from Winona to farm in Grantham Township (now St. Catharines) […]
A Farmer’s Life: Summer Snapshots
Frederick Thomas Lailey, the son of William H. Lailey came from Winona to farm in Grantham Township (now St. Catharines) […]
A Farmer’s Life: Summer Snapshots
Frederick Thomas Lailey, the son of William H. Lailey came from Winona to farm in Grantham Township (now St. Catharines) […]
A Farmer’s Life: Farm Work
Frederick Thomas Lailey, the son of William H. Lailey came from Winona to farm in Grantham Township (now St. […]
A Farmer’s Life
Frederick Lailey’s Diary Frederick Thomas Lailey, the son of William H. Lailey came from Winona to farm in Grantham Township […]
The Women’s Institute
The Women’s Institute (WI) is an organization most often associated with the UK, but as I recently (and very patriotically) explained […]
The Women’s Literary Club
Book clubs and reading groups seem to be everywhere these days – in-person and online, at a local library or […]
Isabella Frampton Hawken: The Original #Girlboss
In honour of International Women’s Day, we’re profiling Isabella Frampton Hawken, a trailblazing businesswoman who is featured in the St. […]
Votes for Women!
March 1 marks the official opening of a new exhibition of photographs at the St. Catharines Museum: “Leading the Way: […]
NEW! Doing Our Bit: The Audio Tour
Announcing our new Audio Tour! We are extremely excited to launch our brand-new audio tour as a part of our […]
Richard Pierpoint
While St. Catharines is well known as a destination for freedom seekers, escaping slavery in the United States through the […]
