Loyal She Remains – Ontario: Selections from the Peter Winkworth Collection of Canadiana

The Peter Winkworth Collection, now owned by Library and Archives Canada, is a nationally significant, rare, and valuable art collection that documents over four centuries of Canadian history. The exhibition consists of 70 items, including paintings, drawings, and prints especially relevant to the history of Ontario. Selected works include paintings by Paul Kane, Frances Anne Hopkins, James Pattison Cockburn, and Frederick Arthur Verner. These artworks are contextualized by a selection of rare books and documents drawn from Library and Archives Canada.

The artworks and ephemera illustrate key places, people, and events in Canadian history and scenes from daily life. Topics include: geographical wonders such as Niagara Falls; the economy, as seen in views of Hudson’s Bay settlements and promotions for industry in the Mennonite community of Prestion; political growth, as seen in images of the construction of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa (1860s) and Toronto (1830s); military history, such as the 1813 battle at Moraviantown and portrait of Commodore Perry. Winkworth’s collection also represents aboriginal culture and the ways in which the lives of aboriginal people were being changed, including, for example, a 19th-century Cree hymnbook.