THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Museum has opened a new exhibit on its third-floor antechamber titled: Collecting History Recent Acquisitions at the Thunder Bay Museum.
"A lot of patrons, they really like seeing things from behind the scenes and often behind the scenes tours are really popular at museums because people want to see that veil pulled back. They want to see what treasures are hidden and this is an opportunity to get some of those treasures out for people to enjoy," said Scott Bradley, executive director.
"On the other hand, it also allows us to highlight the kind of wealth and breadth of our collection and get people to understand that we're not just the things that they see in an exhibit, that there are many other topics covered and included in our collection."
The exhibit will be on display from May 3 until Sept. 11, 2022, and highlights a selection of artifacts that have come into the museum’s collection over the past several years and explains how and why the museum collects and what happens to donations after they are received.
"We often ask people to send us a picture, tell us why it's important, and then list the items that they're interested in donating and then we can of course reply back with the process because we do meet on a regular basis with our collections committee," said Bradley.
"And we go through all of those pending donations and give feedback on and accept or decline on donation offers."
The museum’s collection relies mostly on donations and is comprised of many artifacts and documents of all shapes and sizes that assist museum staff in interpreting the history of Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario.
“Most museums only exhibit a fraction of the artifacts and archives they preserve for study and appreciation by future generations,” said Sydney Belluz, curator, in a release.
“This makes exhibits like this a great opportunity to show the public the interesting and historically significant objects the museum has.”
If you or your organization are interested in donating objects, documents, media, or any other types of items to the Thunder Bay Museum, visit this website for more information.
Another way to support the museum is by buying tickets for their 2022 Classic Car Raffle which is raffling off a 1979 Firebird Espirit (Red Bird edition), professionally appraised at $27,000.00.
