Beaver Staff
Lennox and Addington Museum and Archives will be holding a special presentation on May 24 that has the unique property of looking at the future through the lens of the past by examining vintage space toys.
The in-person event will be held at the museum, starting at 7 p.m.
Shauna Taylor, who manages a large collection of vintage toys and antiques owned by the late Howard Meyer, will talk about some of items in the collection, currently on loan to the museum. She holds a master’s degree in Museum Studies and an HBA in Art History and Anthropology from the University of Toronto.
The talk will explore the history of toys and people’s fascination with outer space. Many of the toys in the collection were made during the height of the space race and when man first landed on the moon. The toys offer a glimpse of what kind of technology society at the time envisioned would one day be possible.
The Tuesday Night at the Museum presentation is an extension of the Fun In Space exhibit currently on display.
To register for the event, visit https://countymuseum.ca/event/vintage-space-toys/.
Elsewhere at the museum, the museum will be hosting a travelling exhibit from the Canadian Museum of Immigration in 2023. Entitled ‘Refuge Canada’, this exhibit explores the fear, shattered lives, and often dangerous voyages people faced in their plight to find refuge.
Over the course of the 20th century, Canada has had a mixed record in welcoming refugees, reacting generously to some while overlooking others. Refuge Canada provides the context for Canada’s place in the global refugee crisis and brings to light the challenges faced by refugees in Canada.
Drawing upon oral histories, archival images, artifacts and interactives, Refuge Canada shares the stories of refugees in an evocative and engaging way. The exhibition aims to create a setting for visitors to make a personal connection to the feelings of pain, danger and hope experienced by refugees, and to be inspired and informed on refugee issues in Canada today.
The Museum of Lennox and Addington would like to add their own special component to this exhibit by including the stories of immigrants who now call Lennox and Addington and its surrounding region home. Building a new life in Canada happens every day and we would like to shed some light on today’s immigrant and how they have created a life here and what it has taken to do so.
These local stories will become part of the fabric that tells the story of Lennox and Addington for future generations to learn from. The museum is always collecting and these missing stories demonstrate a significant gap in the storytelling at the museum.
For families that have arrived to Canada in the 20th or 21st centuries, the museum would love to feature their story. The museum prides itself on being an open and safe space that welcomes everyone to share. The museum is a place that can educate our community about our untold and occasionally difficult stories.
Submissions for this project will be on-going until December 2022. For more information about this exhibit and/or anyone who would like to meet with museum staff, call 613-354-3027 or email museum@lennox-addington.on.ca.