Past Exhibitions

The Peterborough Museum and Archives has hosted dozens of temporary exhibitions since it opened in 1967. Borrowed exhibitions help us bring stories to Peterborough that are important to Canadians. Exhibitions produced in-house allow us to present artifacts not normally on display and to explore topics not covered in the long-term galleries. The temporary exhibition program also provides opportunities to highlight exhibitions developed by students in Fleming College's Museum Management and Curatorship program.

The following list represents recent major exhibitions we have had on display:

2024

Hanging Out with the Marionettes: Vignettes from the Peterborough Puppet Guild
Words & Beyond: How Communication Brings Us Together (Fleming College - Museum Management and Curatorship Program)
Chinese Languages in Canada (Canadian Language Museum)

2023
Welcome to Boomtown: A renewal of the Victorian Gallery (Fleming College - Museum Management and Curatorship Program) To Honour and Respect: Gifts from the Michi Saagiig Women to the Prince of Wales, 1860 (Guest curated by Dr. Lori Beavis and Dr. Laura Peers, with collection items on loan from the Royal Collection Trust)
2022
Home and Away: Stories of Travel from Peterborough and Beyond (Fleming College - Museum Management and Curatorship Program) Space to Spoon (Canada Agriculture and Food Museum) Camp Kawartha: Making a Splash for 100 Years (Camp Kawartha & Peterborough Museum & Archives) Get Out and Play: Winter Sport in Peterborough (Peterborough Museum & Archives)
2021
Flora of the Canadian Arctic (Canadian Museum of Nature) It's Not All Black & White: A Journey Through our Colourful Collection (Fleming College - Museum Management and Curatorship Program) The Ones We Met: Traditional Inuit Knowledge and the Franklin Expedition (Canadian Museum of History) Past Presents (Peterborough Museum and Archives)
2020
Exploring Ancient Routes: Highlights of the Robert L. Hunter Map Collection (Trent University Library & Archives) A Tale of Two Twenties: Peterborough in the 1920s & Now (Fleming College - Museum Management and Curatorship program) Cipher \| Decipher (Canada Science and Technology Museum) Snapshots of Peterborough: 1900 to 1950 (Peterborough Museum and Archives)
2019
Hockey: More Than a Game (Canadian Museum of History) Ice Age Mammals (Canadian Museum of Nature) 1920s Kitchen & Peterborough's Icy Past (Fleming College - Museum Management and Curatorship program) We Were Taught Differently: The Indian Residential School Experience (The MUSE - Lake of the Woods Museum)
2018
Northern Owls (Royal Ontario Museum) If the Shoe Fits: Fashion, Function, Footwear (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) On the Trail of the Monarch Butterfly (Canadian Aviation and Space Museum) Terry Fox: Running to the Heart of Canada (Canadian Museum of History)
2017
Arresting Images – Mug Shots from the Ontario Provincial Police Museum Ebb and Flow, Stories of a River City (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) A Matter of Ownership: First Nations and Métis Objects in the Peterborough Museum and Archives Collection Made in Canada, Really! (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Voices from the Engraver (Bank of Canada Museum)
2016
Ornamenting the Ordinary: Crafts of South Asia (Royal Ontario Museum) Building Identity: Discovering Peterborough's Architecture (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) What Lies Beneath: Canadian Shipwrecks of Lake Superior (Thunder Bay Museum) The Life and Legacy of Sir Arthur Currie (Museum Strathroy-Cardoc)
2015
Scare-itage: Dare You to Look! (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Battleground: War Rugs From Afghanistan (Canadian Textile Museum) Winged Tapestries: Moths at Large (Canadian Museum of Nature) A Common Thread: our clothing, our stories (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program)
2014
Portraits of the North (Manitoba Museum) Stories of Sacrifice: Peterborough Remembers World War One (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Freemasonry: A History Hidden in Plain Sight (Bruce County Museum) Egypt: Gift of the Nile (Royal Ontario Museum)
2013
War of 1812 (Canadian Museum of Civilization) Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame (Canada Science and Technology Museum) Hands on Nature (Royal Ontario Museum) Lace Up! Canada's Passion for Skating (Canadian Museum of Civilization)
2012
Fakes, Frauds and Forgeries (Royal Ontario Museum) Avro Arrow: A Dream Denied (West Parry Sound District Museum – Travelling Exhibition Partnership Program) Sustainable Peterborough: Looking Back, Moving Forward (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Wind Work, Wind Play (Canadian Museum of Civilization)
2011
Arts of China (Royal Ontario Museum) Canada's Waterscapes (Canadian Museum of Nature) Bell-bottom Days: The 1970s (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Art From the Archives (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Child's Play (Haldimand County Museum and Archives)
2010
Off to the Lake (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program/ Peterborough Museum and Archives) Places of Power: Objects of Veneration (Canadian Museum of Civilization)
2009
Quilt Stories: A Stitch in Time (Peterborough Museum and Archives) The Bishop Who Ate His Boots (Old Log Church Museum, Whitehorse, Yukon) 20^TH Century Peterborough (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Our Feathered Friends (Canadian Museum of Nature)
2008
Remembering John McCrae (Guelph Civic Museum / Peterborough Museum and Archives) WarDrobe: Women's Fashion in World War Two (Kickshaw Productions) Ready to Tear: 1960s Fashions (Kickshaw Productions) Rocks and Minerals (Canadian Museum of Nature) Into the Fire: Peterborough Fire Department, 100^th Anniversary (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Through the Voices of Beads – Iroquoian Beadwork (Royal Ontario Museum)
2007
Vikings: Master Mariners, Traders, Colonists and Artisans (Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature) Stories from Near and Afar: 40 Years of Collecting (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Home Grown: From Birch Bark to Green Parks (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Fossils (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Sila – Clue in to Climate Change (Canadian Museum of Nature)
2006
Bats of Ontario (Royal Ontario Museum) Hands of a Master (Canadian Museum of Civilization) Nostra Storia (Our Story) (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Count Your Pennies (Currency Museum)
2005
Passionate Vision (Canadian Museum of Nature) Voices of the Town: Vaudeville in Canada (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Proud Traditions (Canadian Museum of Nature) A Century of Celebration in Peterborough: 1905 – 2005 (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) A Snapshot of Peterborough at Play (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Shivers: A Study of Winter (Peterborough Museum and Archives)
2004
High Diversity (McGill University) Moving the Community: The Peterborough Lift Lock (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Touch the Ground and Grow Roots: The Chinese Community in Peterborough (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Wonders of Waterfowl (Royal Ontario Museum) Once Upon a Time: Knights, Castles and Common Folk (Bruce County Museum)
2003
Nifty Fifties (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Sitting Pretty: History of the Toilet (Guelph Civic Museum – Travelling Exhibition Partnership Program) Music, Myth and Magic (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) My Name is Nanuq: The Diary of a Polar Bear (Canadian Museum of Nature)
2002
Crystals to Gems (Canadian Museum of Nature) Light, Lens and Heart: Portraits from the Balsillie Collection of Roy Studio Images (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Passages to Freedom: Secrets of the Underground Railroad (Welland Museum – Travelling Exhibition Partnership Program) Military Memories: The Peterborough Experience (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Electricity in Action (Royal Ontario Museum)
2001
Egypt: Gift of the Nile (Royal Ontario Museum) Cry of the Loon (Canadian Museum of Nature) Avro Arrow: A Dream Denied (West Parry Sound Museum – Travelling Exhibition Partnership Program) Barely Wearable: Shocking Fashions (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Unearthed from the Past: Japanese Artifacts (Richmond Museum) Childhood Memories: Dolls and Marionettes (Peterborough Museum and Archives)
2000
Noble Experiment: Temperance and Prohibition (Peterborough Museum and Archives – Travelling Exhibition Partnership Program) Seeds in Disguise (Royal Ontario Museum) Balsillie Collection of Roy Studio Images (hosted at Bierk Art – Peterborough Museum and Archives) Photo Contest Entries / Parks Studio II (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Peterborough Trivia (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Canada at Play (Royal Ontario Museum) Whimmy Diddles to Wind-Ups: 150 Years of Toys (Peterborough Museum and Archives)
1999
Eddy Le Page and Family (Le Page and Peterborough Museum and Archives) Captured Moments in Time: The Parks Studio Collection (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Archaeology: Can You Dig It? (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Salute to Scouting: 75 Years of Scouting in Peterborough (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Unravelling (Peterborough Museum and Archives)
1998
The Fur Trade (Parks Canada) Here Comes the Bride (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Having a Great Time!: Postcards from the Collection (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Feelings in Fabric X (Kawartha Quilt Makers) It's About Time (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Sacred Earth (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Winter (Peterborough Museum and Archives)
1997
Vikings: Master Mariners, Traders, Colonists and Artisans (Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature) 100^th Anniversary Exhibit (Peterborough Museum and Archives, Hutchinson House, Peterborough Historical Society and Lang Pioneer Village) Peterborough Then and Now II (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Katherine Wallis (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Once Upon a Childhood (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Peterborough Group of Painters (Peterborough Group of Painters) Canadian Contemporary Quilts (Rodman Hall)
1996
Pageant of Puppets (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Our Feathered Friends (Canadian Museum of Nature) Portraits of the Yukon (McBride Museum) 'Til We Meet Again: Peterborough at War (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Awakening the Spirit II (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Peterborough Group of Painters (Peterborough Group of Painters) Changing Clothes: Fashion of Life's Events (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Roy Studio and History of Photography (Peterborough Museum and Archives)
1995
The Seeing Brain (Ontario Science Centre) Wild in the City (Canadian Museum of Nature) Ducks Unlimited (Ducks Unlimited) Showbiz: Past and Present (Peterborough Museum and Archives and Showplace Peterborough) Working with Wood (J. Sharpe Collection – Peterborough Museum and Archives) Peterborough: Then and Now (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Awakening the Spirit (Peterborough Museum and Archives) Black and White and Read All Over (Fleming College – Museum Management and Curatorship program) Roy Studio Collection / Denne Collection (Peterborough Museum and Archives)