At the Museum & Archives we collect and preserve the history of public education in York Region. Our collection includes: school histories, text books, teacher manuals and contracts, school equipment, and more!
The Heritage Classroom at the YRDSB Museum & Archives
Through our in-class programs, students experience a day in the life of a student who went to the Buttonville School in 1850. There are few things more exciting than holding in your hand something that was used by someone your own age who lived over 100 years ago!
There are many events that a school celebrates from its opening, to its milestone anniversaries to reunions. We assist school and community groups by providing access to the resources in our collection.
Our Outreach Kits teach our students how to examine an artefact or document to find the story behind its production.
Do you have a research project to complete or some personal history that you are researching? We may be able to help. If you cannot find what you are looking for at our site, we can connect you to other museums in our area. You can explore more Ontario Museums Online.
Our collection is online and available to you! Search the catalogue and see where it takes you.
Museums are a natural extension of the formal learning experience provided by schools. We work with teachers to create interactive programs that take learning beyond the classroom walls. We have display cases in the front foyer at the Aurora Education Centre and the Centre for Leadership and Learning. We use our artefacts to explore a variety of themes and to showcase our schools.
What We Collect
The YRDSB Museum and Archives preserves historical artefacts and documents relating to the Board and the history of public education in York Region.
But what does preserving the history of education mean? It means that we collect items that help to answer the following questions:
Who taught and who was educated?
· What was taught?
· Where did learning take place?
· How was teaching done?
· How was education managed?
· Why did we educate the way that we did?
Collection of notebooks and school reports: YRDSB Museum & Archives Collection, 015.21
Our collection includes school equipment, attendance registers, photographs, administrative papers, curriculum guidelines, student work, furniture, and textbooks. You can find out more about what we do in our Museum and Archives procedure.
We have over 10,000 objects and our collection continues to grow!
While the Board itself is a rich resource from which we build our collections, we also accept donations from outside the Board. If you have something that you think will help us with building our understanding of the educational history of York Region, please contact us.
Please see our Collections Guidelines to get an idea of the kinds of things that we collect.