Langley Centennial Museum’s newest exhibit features artifacts from the Permanent Collection, to Mar 22

The Langley Centennial Museum’s newest exhibit take a look back at the history of the museum’s collection.  Want to know what kind of gems are stored in the collection and rarely get to be displayed?  Now is your chance!

The museum is one of the oldest community museums in the province.  Its collection was originally established through the efforts of the Native Sons of B.C.  After purchasing the last remaining Hudson’s Bay Company fort building, the storehouse, from the pioneer Mavis family, the Native Sons collected artifacts from the Langley area that related to its pre-contact and post-contact history and exhibited them there.  Part of this early assortment of artifacts became the basis for the museum’s collection when it opened in 1958.  The remaining items stayed at the Fort Langley National Historic Site.

While early collecting reflected the community’s HBC and pioneering past, it also collected the exotic; travelling to a museum much like a trip around the world and allowed people to see things they might not have otherwise.  Later, the collection grew to include more artifacts that were examples of pioneer life, but often the age and look of the item was more relevant than the actual connection to Langley’s history. 

In later decades, gaps were filled in the collection, sometime for exhibit purposes, and the collection continued to grow in local relevance.  What we collect today reflects the community’s history and the present.

Come by to see some of the interesting, unique, and beautiful items the Langley Centennial Museum has been fortunate to collect over the last 57 years!  Highlights include beautifully embroidered silk Chinese jackets dating from the Qing dynasty, family Bibles that belonged to some of Langley’s earliest pioneering families, collections of art, including contemporary pieces in the collection by Suzanne Northcott and Phyllis Atkins, highlights from the photograph collection, N’laka’pamux baskets dating from the late 19^th century, and beautifully illustrated pages noting Langley Prairie and Fort Langley’s May Queens from the 1930’s.

Admission is always by voluntary donation. 

Contact the museum a 604.532.3536 for more details.