We would like to invite you to join us for an interesting murder mystery evening… the first fundraiser for the Mattawa Museum for the 2026 season.
When: Saturday, May 9, 2026, 6 -10 pm
Where: Mattawa Lion’s Den, 175 Brook St, Mattawa, ON
appetizers/desserts, coffee & tea will be provided
Hello everyone, Salut tout le monde, Kwey kakina, Taanshi kiyawaaw
We’ve weathered another long winter ❄️ and are excited to welcome spring 🌻 and a fun 2026 season at the Museum.
Museum official opening date is Thursday May 14
This year will feature two new exhibits, a few surprises, and a brand-new Escape Room.
The International Council of Museums’ theme, Museums Uniting a Divided World, along with the Ontario Museum Association’s Museum Month theme, The Value of Ontario Museums, highlights the important role museums play in our communities.
The Power of Technology…
The challenges that began in March 2020 were especially difficult for small community museums like ours, but we persevered. One unexpected benefit was the time to make significant progress behind the scenes. With support from a Georgian College intern, dedicated student staff, and new funding, we advanced our digital cataloguing efforts, photographed artefacts, and introduced OCR technology to make historic newspapers and documents searchable. More details on this project will follow.
Our goal is to bring the Museum into the 21st century while preserving and sharing the stories that shape our community. If you haven’t visited yet, we hope the Museum is on your list this season. We look forward to welcoming you.
Opening fundraiser…
Following last season’s successful Murder Mystery Evening, we’re launching this season with our opening fundraiser, Murder on the Lake, on Saturday, May 9 at the Lions Den.
Or call the museum 705 744 5495 or send us an email curator@mattawamuseum.ca for tickets.
Thank you in advance for your continued support. We look forward to visiting with you throughout the season.
Thank you, merci, meegwetch, marsi
There are stories here … where two rivers meet,
Come discover the stories with us and one of our newest exhibits:
HerStory: The Stories She Tells
What was very apparent to us a couple of years ago was that we only had two women represented in our Community Museum … to us, especially female staff, this truly was a misrepresentation of our Community.
Women are the heart and soul of most communities and we just knew we needed to make some major changes with these very important additions. We have community leaders, athletes, musicians, politicians, artists and the many women who make and have made over these many years, immeasurable contributions.
One important aspect is our Tree of Life Timeline, which highlights all of the many landmark legal and civil rights we have fought for and achieved.
I hope you will take some time to come visit and read Her Stories.
Thank you, merci, meegwetch, marsi
International Women’s Day 2026 theme is ‘Give To Gain’
When we give, we gain.
Together, let’s help forge gender equality through abundant giving.
The IWD 2026 Give To Gain Campaign encourages a mindset of generosity and collaboration.
Give To Gain emphasizes the power of reciprocity and support. When people, organizations, and communities give generously, opportunities and support for women increase. Giving is not a subtraction, it’s intentional multiplication. When women thrive, we all rise.
Whether through donations, knowledge, resources, infrastructure, visibility, advocacy, education, training, mentoring, or time, contributing to women’s advancement helps create a more supportive and interconnected world.
What will you Give to Gain gender equality?
As we come to the end of another wonderful season here at the Museum, I wanted to take some time to thank our community for the many contributions, both in artefacts and stories, that make our Museum especially unique.
We are all about telling stories here, because the stories are how people remember us, all of us.
Reaching all demographics can be challenging, especially for small town community museums. We need to be able to reach and include everyone and that means being creative with how we communicate and the mediums we use to do that.
No doubt, social media via Facebook and www.mattawamuseum.ca are instrumental, as well as our local newspaper, The Mattawa Recorder.
Technology such as digital media in our exhibits and adding new or at least revamped exhibit areas each season helps expand our reach.
Where Did our 2025 Visitors Come From?
This year has been another successful season, with admissions that included every single province and territory in Canada! Our international visitors included The Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Japan, Venezuela, Australia, Ireland, the U.K., France, Haiti and a first – Trinidad-Tobago. We had quite a few American visitors (Connecticut, Maine, New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, California, Iowa, Nevada). We have a huge Global wall map and it is absolutely fascinating to see how we are connected to the world, just through our Community Museum.
2025 Exhibits and Events Highlights…
We especially wanted to thank
this season for the installation of the Indigenous Ingenuity Exhibit!
It has been extremely popular, educational and informative.
The Virtual Dog Sled ride was a unique addition and a big hit with all ages!
Things like the Escape Room attract a demographic of people who might not usually visit a museum, but once they do come in, they are always pleasantly surprised and are happy to have visited.
We had our first ever Murder Mystery Evening fundraiser – great fun and great success!
Thank you to all who helped organize and especially to those who attended. We truly appreciate you.
We had another successful Julie Lynn Day.
Many thanks to our wonderful Julie and Nicole for helping make it super special and Sandra Glabb for joining in on the musical fun!
Mattawa Historical Society
Like so many other small community museums, we are a non-profit run by the Mattawa Historical Society.
I wanted to take this time to thank our amazing Board of Directors. Their support and hard work makes the special task of operating the Museum so much easier!
Shannon McNamara; Chairperson: Mattawa Historical Society:
I was fascinated with the Mattawa Museum from my first visit and wanted to learn more about the history of our beautiful area. Our wonderful curator, Judy, was always willing to share stories and her vision for the progression of the museum. It is this engagement and leadership that led to me to taking a role on the board. I haven't looked back!It is incredibly important that our Mattawa Museum continues to grow and evolve to continue to attract both local visitors as well as those from around the globe. I am so proud of the creativity and unique thinking that comes from Judy and her team at the museum. As board members of the Mattawa Historical Society, they make our jobs easier to help promote, support, and assist in executing the vision.As the Chairperson of the Mattawa Historical Society I have learned a great deal about the challenges of keeping a museum viable in a small community. I am also even more convinced that doing so is vital to our community, not just to preserve the important and interesting history of Mattawa and the surrounding area, but also to help keep our community relevant to visitors that are attracted by what the museum has to offer. We are thankful to those that support our fundraising and donation programs to help keep the doors open!Professional Associates
We belong to professional groups such as the Ontario Historical Society and the Ontario Museum Association (OMA).
These organizations provide us with great resources. OMA provides professional development courses to those working in our industry to eventually receive their certificates of study. One of our staff members is currently enrolled in this program.
Operational Funding
We do not receive operational funding. We rely on admissions and giftshop sales to pay wages and expenses, as well as generous donations and participation in things like our local Catch-the-Ace.
We are eligible to apply for program grants, on all levels. Sometimes we get them but nothing is guaranteed. Fundraising is another piece of the operations puzzle. All of this takes people power and volunteers, so it can also be challenging in a small community.
This season we partnered with three of our local teachers to include their students in programs that involve community history and we look forward to helping create more programs.
We want to thank all of our wonderful volunteers for their support – moral and physical – we couldn’t do it without you!
We remain #1 in google searches in our area!
Plans are now in the works for Season 2026!
We have wonderful stories that we continue to tell and we are always open to new ones, and new ideas for exhibits. You can stay connected with us through subscribing to our emails on our website www.mattawamuseum.ca and following us on our FB page.
So, stay tuned … thank you, meegwetch, merci, marsi
