- 75 William Street North, Chatham, ON, N7M 4L4
- Tel: 519-360-1998
- Website | Email | Directions | Map
Overview
For over 80 years, the Chatham-Kent Museum has been selectively acquiring artifacts of local and national significance. Through exhibitions, public programs, educational tours, and a museum gift shop, the museum staff provide opportunities for people to engage, interact, and enjoy the community’s stories and artifacts.
Let your child's imagination grow in our new interactive, totally hands-on, innovative, and creative space, the Imagination Station! Have fun with the whole family while exploring our history.
The Chatham-Kent Museum also includes the restored Milner Heritage House that depicts the turn-of-the-century lifestyle of a successful industrialist and his family. Milner Heritage House is open from June 1 to August 31 each year.
Website: https://www.chatham-kent.ca/Chatham-KentMuseum
Type: Community Museum | Historic Building
Hours & Fees
- Wednesday-Sunday, 11AM-4PM, Thursday, 11AM-7PM
- By donation
Insider's Look
Fergie Jenkins Baseball Card
Accession Number- 988.32.13Dimensions- 8.9cm x 6.4cmI chose this artifact because, as a Canadian sports fan, no athlete set the stage for Canadian success on the biggest stages of sport more than Fergie Jenkins. As a multi-sport athlete from Chatham, Ontario, Jenkins was the first Canadian inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Since Jenkins, many Canadians have played and excelled in Major League Baseball. But they all have Fergie Jenkins to thank for blazing the trail.Jenkins is not only a testament to Canadian sport in general, but he is an example of the rich history of African-Canadian athletes. Born to a father who immigrated to Canada from Barbados and a mother who descended from slaves who escaped via the Underground Railroad, Jenkins overcame racial discrimination throughout his career to become one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history. Jenkins is one of the greatest athletes in Canada’s 150 year history and a living, breathing national treasure.With 284 career wins and 3,192 career strikeouts, Fergie Jenkins was a superstar. With a career that spanned 1965 to 1983, Jenkins brought unprecedented recognition for the game of baseball in Canada. Jenkins also excelled on the basketball court, playing for the world-renowned Harlem Globetrotters during the baseball offseason on multiple occasions. And all his accomplishments are memorialized in this Topps baseball card from 1983, which allowed young fans to sentimentalize over one of their favorite athletes and a true Canadian legend.Baseball cards have long been one of the marquee collectibles for young sports fans. A baseball card of Fergie Jenkins, in particular, is a monument to a man who achieved great things for the sporting culture of this country, and for the African-Canadian community. Former Chicago Cubs manager Leo Durocher said it best when he described Jenkins as “one of the best pitchers in baseball, ever.”
Purple velvet hat with silver embellishments
Accession Number: 991.21.4I chose this object from our collection because I find clothing, especially trends from throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th century, very intriguing. Further, how clothing can represent someone’s standing in society or their personality, culture, etc. is compelling. It is a way of communication that we use to express ourselves and we have done so for thousands of years. The way fashion changes is often in tandem with the cultural changes that occur in a society. This is important knowledge about the history of our country that young people should be educated about.This stylish hat from the 1920’s to 1930’s era was found in the attic of the McAlpine home in Dresden, Ontario before it was torn down in 1983. This hat was typical of something that women in the early 1900’s would wear in Canada. In the 19th century, women always wore hats while outdoors but by the 20th century hats were more of a fashion choice than a polite requirement. By the time this hat was worn, an uncovered head did not necessarily indicate a bad reputation or loose morals as it once would have. The deep purple velvet used for the hat once represented royalty and would have been very fashionable for the time period. The silver beading, in a leaf and flower pattern, is very intricate and may have been hand sewn. The expert craftsmanship that created this hat is a disappearing art, as most clothing today is sewn by machines and is not customized.This artifact is an example of how clothing, fashion, and trends can change very quickly over a small period of time. Even today, clothing that a woman wears expresses her personality or class. Women who did not wear hats while outside in the 19th century were considered less attractive to a potential mate. This hat, like clothing today, helped its wearer communicate about herself, her social standing, her tastes, and even her morals. It is imperative to teach young audiences that people from earlier time periods were not alien; they were very much like us today. Perhaps the way they did things and expressed themselves through fashion was a little different but the same underlying social principals still exist.
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