Niagara Falls Museum facts for kids

The Niagara Falls Museum was a very old museum in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It was started by an Englishman named Thomas Barnett in 1827. This makes it known as the oldest museum in Canada! For 140 years, it was also home to the mummy of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, Ramesses I, before it was returned to Egypt in 2003. The museum building changed its purpose and was fixed up many times over the years.

History of the Niagara Falls Museum

Thomas Barnett was born in England in 1799. He moved to Canada in the early 1820s. In 1827, he opened the Niagara Falls Museum. It was located at the bottom of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.

Early Days and Growing Collections

Thomas Barnett loved collecting unusual things. He turned an old brewery into a place to show his private collection. His way of collecting was similar to older British museums. One example is the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

The Niagara Falls Museum started small. In 1827, it mostly showed Thomas Barnett's collection of stuffed animals. It also had some items from Native Canadian cultures. But Barnett's collection grew very quickly.

By 1844, the museum had over 5,000 items! These included animals, birds, fish, insects, and minerals. It also had many more Native American curiosities. For its first fifty years, the museum kept adding similar items. The Barnett family worked hard to find new things.

Amazing Discoveries and New Exhibits

In 1854, Sydney Barnett, Thomas's son, traveled to Egypt. He bought four mummies and many other ancient Egyptian items. In 1857, the bones of a mastodon were found in St. Thomas, Ontario. These huge bones were later put in the museum.

By 1859, the museum also had a collection of eggs. It displayed old and new coins, plus items from Japan and China. In 1873, the Barnetts bought the skeleton of a huge whale. It was a 40-foot-long humpback whale!

Both Thomas and Sydney Barnett were skilled at stuffing animals. They prepared specimens for the museum. They also traded and sold items to other museums. Sydney Barnett was also a writer and inventor. He even tried to organize a "Wild West Show" in 1872. He wanted to feature "Buffalo Bill" Cody and Native American performers.

Moving and New Owners

In 1878, the Davis family bought the museum. This happened after a long rivalry with Saul Davis from Buffalo. The museum continued to operate. In 1882, the Niagara Parks Commission was created. This group wanted to turn the area in front of the museum into Queen Victoria Park.

Because of this, the museum had to move. In 1888, no good spot could be found in Canada. So, the museum moved to Niagara Falls, New York, in the United States. The Davis family added an Art Gallery to the museum in 1891.

Changes and Big Trees

During their time as owners, the Davis family bought five more Egyptian mummies. They also bought the entire collection from Wood's Museum in Chicago. While some new exhibits were added, others were lost or sold over time. The Niagara Falls Museum also exchanged items with P. T. Barnum, who was famous for his circus and museum.

By 1892, the museum stopped having live animal displays. Neighbors complained about the noise and smells. Some items displayed at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901 were later acquired by the Niagara Falls Museum.

One highlight was a giant Sequoia tree trunk. It was cut down in California in 1893. Its base was 77 feet around, making it one of the largest trees ever cut! The museum also received a collection of shells and corals. These were gathered by Louis Agassiz of Harvard University.

The Museum's Legacy

Thomas Barnett died in 1890 in Niagara Falls, Canada. He is remembered as the founder of Canada's oldest museum. He was also Canada's first "Museum Man." The Sherman family owned the museum's collection until May 1999. Then, a private collector named William Jamieson bought everything. He hoped to bring back the museum's original spirit.

Key People Behind the Museum

Many people played important roles in the Niagara Falls Museum's history.

Thomas Barnett: The Founder

Thomas Barnett was the person who started the Niagara Falls Museum. He first kept his collection of stuffed animals and interesting objects in an old brewery. Later, he built a special building for it at the base of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.

Sydney Barnett: The Adventurous Son

Sydney Barnett was Thomas's son. He traveled to Egypt and bought some of the mummies that the museum later became famous for. One of these was the mummy of Ramesses I, which was returned to Dr. Zahi Hawass in Egypt. Like his father, Sydney was good at stuffing animals. He also helped organize public events for the museum, like the Wild West shows.

Other Important Figures

• Dr. J. Douglas from Montreal went with Sydney Barnett on one of his trips to Egypt.
• Saul Davis bought the museum in 1878. He added an art gallery to it. The museum then moved to the American side of Niagara Falls. It later moved back to the Canadian side.
• The Sherman family owned the museum's collection until 1999. They sold it to a Canadian collector named William Jamieson. He was known for collecting tribal art and other unique items. William Jamieson passed away in 2011.
• The Niagara Falls History Museum acquired part of the Niagara Falls Museum collection in 2014. This included Barnett's beloved two-legged dog, Skipper.

Identification of Ramesses I

In 1999, William Jamieson sold the Egyptian artifacts from the museum's collection. This included some mummies. They were sold to the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Among these was an unidentified male mummy.

Through careful research and help from medical experts, museum scholars identified this mummy as Pharaoh Ramesses I. This was a huge discovery! The museum returned the mummy to Egypt in 2003. This was a gift of friendship and cultural cooperation between countries. Ramesses I's mummy had been missing for over 150 years. For 140 of those years, it was in Niagara Falls, Canada, without anyone knowing who it was. Now, it is in its own museum in Egypt.