As a vital member of our local community, the Thunder Bay Museum partners with local organizations, operates outreach programming, and curates special displays in schools, businesses, seniors homes, and elsewhere. These partnerships, programs, and services enhance peoples’ experiences today by looking back upon our fascinating history. Whether providing stories, images, research materials, or our own expertise, we are always looking for new and interesting ways to work with members of the local community to communicate our history to wider audience.

For more information on how to partner with the museum, simply call us at (807) 623-0801.

Currently in the community:

Superior Shores Gaming Association

As one of 79 local charities supported by the Superior Shores Gaming Association, the Thunder Bay Museum provides volunteers to work bingo’s on a monthly basis. This fundraising effort means that every time you play a game or have a meal at Superior Shores Gaming Centre, you are directly helping not only the museum, but many other charitable organizations who are doing great work in our community.

For more information on Superior Shores Gaming Centre, please visit their website at www.superiorshoresgaming.com.

If you are interested in volunteering to work bingo’s on behalf of the museum, send us an email at info@thunderbaymuseum.com.

* The Superior Shores Gaming Centre is temporarily closed due to COVID-19 restrictions – find updates on their website.

Wendell Beckwith Documentary Film Project

Wendell Beckwith, an inventor, master wood worker, and free thinking scientist, ended up living alone, on the tip of Best Island, north of Armstrong, on the remote Whitewater Lake in 1961. There he would stay until his death in 1980 at the age of 65. Today, Wendell’s cabins still attract visitors from all over the world, and his story has become a piece of Northwestern Ontario folklore.

Filmmaker Jim Hyder, who knew Beckwith, has partnered with the Museum to make a film of Wendell’s life. The film asks, who was Wendell Beckwith? It explores his skills, his relationships, his legacy and, particularly, his science, for it was his need to uncover the natural laws that govern the universe that brought him to Northwestern Ontario.

The film is now complete and can be viewed here.

 

Senior Programs

Throughout the year, the Thunder Bay Museum offers programming to seniors that can be delivered virtually or live at a long-term care home.   These programs engage the audience with historic artifacts, photos, and explanations that induce memories and encourage participation.  Subsequent questions and answers get the participants talking about their own lives, past and present.  We believe these tailor-made programs improve the mental and physical well-being of the seniors who participate.

For more information on these programs, click here.

Historical Walking Tours

During the summer months, the museum puts on walking tours throughout the city that highlight some of the more colourful events and individuals in our history. While other tours focus on architecture, these tours also include aspects of social history or the stories behind the locations. Commerce, crime, transportation, politics, milestones, and the early inhabitants responsible for the development of Thunder Bay are but some of the topics covered.

For more on the walking tours, click here.