Civic Museum
Celebrating Guelph’s stories!
The Guelph Civic Museum showcases Guelph’s history through permanent and changing exhibits, a fun and interactive families gallery, and special events and activities. Located in the recently renovated Loretto Convent, atop the hill at Norfolk Street and beside the landmark Church of Our Lady, the museum is home to a collection of over 30,000 artifacts that bring Guelph’s past to life.
2012
Guelph Civic Museum opens at 52 Norfolk Street, the former Loretto Convent.
2000
The “Growing Up in Guelph Children’s Museum” opens at the Civic Museum. The popular children’s gallery attracts many more visitors and significantly increases the number of family memberships.
1980
Guelph Civic Museum opens at 6 Dublin Street South, a commercial limestone building built c.1855. The building had many uses over the years but was most recently known as the Knights of Columbus Hall.
1967
Canada’s Centennial Year. The Museum opens in its first home in the horse stables, now the Farmer’s Market.
1960’s
Members of the Guelph Historical Society begin to collect artifacts and displays are mounted in store fronts and community centres.
Upcoming Events
March 2020
April 2020
Downtown EarlyON Playtime – CANCELLED
In order to flatten the COVID-19 curve, the Museum is temporarily closed until further notice. We are still available online and through our social media channels. City of Guelph COVID-19 Update EarlyON Playtime at the Museum has been cancelled until April 30. Weekly program offerings for children from 0 to 6 years old and their families, offered through the EarlyON Child and Family Centre. Free drop-in family programming that promotes early learning and development from 9:30 to 11:30 AM on…
Find out more »Tales from the Hill – CANCELLED
In order to flatten the COVID-19 curve, the Museum is temporarily closed until further notice. We are still available online and through our social media channels. City of Guelph COVID-19 Update Tales from the Hill has been cancelled. Join Guelph Guild of Storytellers and special guests on the first Wednesday of each month. Free admission.
Find out more »History Bites: Guelph Circa 1999 – POSTPONED
In order to flatten the COVID-19 curve, the Museum is temporarily closed until further notice. We are still available online and through our social media channels. City of Guelph COVID-19 Update History Bites: Guelph 1999 has been postponed, date TBD. A NEW lunch hour series on the third Wednesday of each month. Bring a brown bag lunch and join us for bite-sized history tours of featured exhibitions and collections. Admission by donation. Tickets in advance. About Guelph Circa 1999: Like…
Find out more »The Fight for History: 75 Years of Forgetting, Remembering and Remaking Canada’s Second World War – POSTPONED
In order to flatten the COVID-19 curve, the Museum is temporarily closed until further notice. We are still available online and through our social media channels. City of Guelph COVID-19 Update The Fight for History talk has been postponed, date tbd. Award-winning Canadian military author Tim Cook will talk on his latest book “The Fight for History: 75 Years of Forgetting, Remembering and Remaking Canada’s Second World War". About The Fight for History: 75 Years of Forgetting, Remembering and Remaking…
Find out more »School’s Out, Museum’s In PD Day – CANCELLED
In order to flatten the COVID-19 curve, the Museum is temporarily closed until further notice. We are still available online and through our social media channels. City of Guelph COVID-19 Update Maps and Codes and Signals, Oh My! On this PD Day, use games, puzzles, and crafts to practice the art of long-distance communication, and learn a secret code or two to use with friends!
Find out more »Doors Open After Dark 2020 – Postponed
In order to flatten the COVID-19 curve, the Museum is temporarily closed until further notice. We are still available online and through our social media channels. City of Guelph COVID-19 Update Doors Open Guelph and Doors Open After Dark have been postponed, date tbd. Celebrate Guelph’s 193rd birthday and kick off Doors Open Guelph at the Civic Museum with live music, food trucks, and pop-up art and history installations at and around the museum. Connect, explore and engage with history…
Find out more »Fourth Friday: Murray Foster – postponed
In order to flatten the COVID-19 curve, the Museum is temporarily closed until further notice. We are still available online and through our social media channels. City of Guelph COVID-19 Update Fourth Friday and Doors Open After Dark have been postponed, date tbd. Before Doors Open After Dark 2020 officially kicks off, warm up with a free Fourth Friday concert by Murray Foster. On the Fourth Friday of the month, Guelph Museums offers free admission to the Guelph Civic Museum after 5…
Find out more »May 2020
Tales from the Hill
Join Guelph Guild of Storytellers and special guests on the first Wednesday of each month. Free admission.
Find out more »Mother’s Day Tea
Treat mom to an afternoon of tea, and treats at the Civic Museum. Relax and enjoy fresh scones, jam, shortbread cookies, fresh fruit and bottomless pots of McCrae Private Blend and Guelph Town Garden Blend teas. There will be two seatings: 1 and 3 p.m. Tickets in advance.
Find out more »2Rivers Festival: Looking Twice
A poetry reading from Karen Houle's "The Grand River Watershed: A Folk Ecology" matched with artifacts and stories found in the museum’s gallery spaces. Karen has made the finalists list for the Governor General's Literary Award for this work. She will share readings from this collection which contemplates the complexities of the Grand River watershed in southern Ontario. Afterward, mingle in the museum to view the many artifacts which are embedded in her poems. Karen will be available to share…
Find out more »History Bites: Lay of the Land
A NEW lunch hour series on the third Wednesday of each month. Bring a brown bag lunch and join us for bite-sized history tours of featured exhibitions and collections. Admission by donation. Tickets in advance. About Lay of the Land: You are here! This interactive exhibition will orient visitors in time and place through an installation of maps, spanning time immemorial to present day. Lay of the Land invites all visitors to understand our complex relationship to the land, past and present, and…
Find out more »Fourth Friday: River North (Matt Zaddy & Heather Christine)
Kick off your weekend with a performance by River North. On the Fourth Friday of the month, Guelph Museums offers free admission to the Guelph Civic Museum after 5 p.m. Performances by River North start at 7 p.m. Cash bar. Sponsored by: About River North: River North is a Mississauga based duo comprised of award-winning musicians Matt Zaddy and Heather Christine. Together these artists are partners in music and in life. River North combines soulful acoustic guitar and moving vocal…
Find out more »Fifth Friday Pub Night: Mapping Guelph’s Possible Energy Futures
19+ Event, cash bar Have a drink with researchers from the U of G Geography Department, discuss the future of renewable energy in Guelph, and participate in an interactive mapping project. Admission by donation.
Find out more »
