Past Exhibitions

Discover how the changes in women’s undergarments paralleled the rise of social reform and women’s rights. Includes items in both the Hunter Family and private lender collections.

In this summer exhibit we highlight why and how Victorians traveled and what they chose to bring home to commemorate those travels. The Hunter Family traveled extensively, so we are very lucky to have a number of unique items on display!

A dishwasher, a pen, aspirin, a gas pump, and jellybeans. What do these things have in common? They were all inventions and products of the Victorian Era. Our summer 2022 exhibit, Thoroughly Modern Victorian: How the Victorian Era Birthed the Modern Age invites you to look at the modern world from the lens of the past. From mail-order catalogs to online shopping, electricity to solar panels, stereoscopes to instagram, the list goes on. Our exhibit aims to explore these inventions and the progress that shaped the world we live in today.

During the long nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, family leisure time was marked by a variety of diversions inside the home. Victorian board games, puzzles, parlor games, and card games could be found in the homes of both the elite and of the working class, with differences in quality and content present due to access and wealth disparities. This exhibit highlights the rise and transformation of the American board game industry and the use of gaming in the home for comfort during times of hardship. The exhibit was inspired by the Hunter’s extensive puzzle and game collection and the mental and emotional effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in our communities.