The Kitchissippi Museum - Pop-Up Museum & Dispay - St. Vincent de Paul's - starts today!

As part of the ongoing events for Wellington Village's 100th Anniversary, I am really excited to announce that later today (Friday June 7th), and for the next two weeks, the huge front window display at St. Vincent de Paul at 1273 Wellington Street West will be populated by items from the Kitchissippi Museum!

I pulled together a ton of stuff from my collection, some of which I've used in the past when I've set up ad hoc booths/kiosks at events like Westfest, Westboro Fuse, Tastes of Wellington West and Heritage Day. But this is the first time I've ever been able to get a monster display set up for a longer period of time! So I am really excited that this is going to run for the next two weeks.

I've included mostly Wellington Village/area related items, but also have included a ton of Ottawa history related items too (to help fill it up, of course!). Some of the highlights of the window are:

* A moving slideshow of photos from Wellington Village's history
* A few artifacts from our railway and streetcar past, from the old Ottawa West trainyards at Bayview
* A fire alarm box which was located for 30 years at the corner of Woodroffe and Carling Avenue (as many would have throughout Wellington Village from the 1920s until they were all removed in 1970).
* Huge 24x36 photos of the neighbourhood, including some rare aerial/oblique shots, and one really cool low-elevation oblique photo of downtown Ottawa from 1926 never before seen
* Other items from local businesses and industry, including a stove cover from Beach Foundry
* Some rare Ottawa history items, including old phone books from the 1930s, Super Ex and Winter Carnival programs, Ottawa Auditorium programs, advertising items, a receipt from the mid-1800s, and more
* A newspaper article from London, England from 1859 illustrating the "proposed" Parliament Buildings in Ottawa
* Nepean/Fisher Park/Champlain Park yearbooks from the 1950s.
* Lots more

It's a big chunk of my collection, and I'm happy to share it for the next two weeks, and hope that people passing by the window will enjoy viewing some of the items!

Sadly none of the collection will be part of the usual St. Vincent's auction (I'm sure the staff will be tired of asking that question by two weeks from now!), but I know that there will be 3 canvas prints donated by local business CanvasPop on Hamilton Avenue North that will be in the window as well, and those prints will be auctioned at the big event at Thyme & Again on Saturday the 22nd. There will also be some other new local products/swag on demo in the window courtesy of the BIA, and I think some prints from Andrew King as well. All that to say...well worth making the time to stop by and have a look!

I believe it launches at 6 p.m. tonight (Friday) so I'm excited to see it myself. By the time you read this.. it probably will already be in full swing!

St. Vincent de Paul is at 1273 Wellington Street West https://goo.gl/maps/kNJnjFK3E1pxfZmQ7

St. Vincent de Paul building when it first opened as a
Loblaws in 1937. That's the Victoria Theatre next to it, and
S&S Higman's hardware and paint store (now Thyme & Again).
(Source: Library Archives Canada, C-080423)

The building today (Source: CTV News)