Item 89-1058 - Victoria Museum jubilee poster

The Victoria Museum grew out of the Peterborough Historical Society's efforts to preserve the past. They received $200.00 from the City of Peterborough; $100.00 from the County of Peterborough and the Society raised $100.00. June 22, 1897 was the official dedication of the Victoria Museum. It was called the Victoria Museum to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. The Victoria Museum officially opened October 31, 1898. It was housed in the two front rooms, the large ground floor hall, the upstairs hall and two upstairs rooms at Inverlea House. The museum had a number of cases of birds and animals, Indigenous curios, old documents, antique firearms, an old canoe and displays of minerals. T.A.S. Hay became the first curator when the Victoria Museum moved from Inverlea Park to the top floor of the new library building on April 23, 1912. G.H. Clarke became the next curator as Hay died in 1917 and the Library Board took over stewardship of the museum. In the 1950's William Graff became the curator but by this point much of the museum's collection had been dispersed to other sources in the Peterborough area. The Historical Society re-established itself and the museum became renewed with display cases on the upper floor and in the basement of the library. Eventually the artifacts which were part of the Victoria Museum's collections and later under library stewardship came to be housed in the Peterborough Centennial Museum. The Centennial Museum originated from the need in the city for a new museum. At this point the Peterborough District Historical and Art Museum Foundation was established in 1961 to fund and establish a new museum and safeguard remnants of the Victoria Museum collection. On November 19, 1966 the Historical Society transferred ownership of the collection to the Foundation since the society was not incorporated. On October 28, 1967 the Peterborough Centennial Museum was officially opened on Armour Hill and the collections of the Victoria Museum became a part of the Centennial Museum's collections. (Taken from: Doherty, Ken. Preserving Peterborough's Past: 150 Years of Museums and History. Occasional Paper 16. Peterborough Historical Society, November 1995.)