Titanic Artifact Exhibition in Victoria and Toronto
Ninety-five years after the Titanic first set sail from England on its maiden voyage, travelling exhibitions of the world’s largest ship are about to be launched in two Canadian cities.
The Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition is set to open in Victoria and Toronto this year. In each city, more than 250 artifacts retrieved from the wreck of the ill-fated ship will be on display for several months.
Although the exhibitions, produced by RMS Titanic Inc., bear the same name, they will feature different artifacts. The exhibitions run at the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria from April 14, 2007, to Oct. 14, 2007, and at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto from June 2, 2007, to Jan. 6, 2008.
On Tuesday, the Ontario Science Centre offered a sneak preview of nine Titanic artifacts, including a rare 25-cent Dominion of Canada “shinplaster” note. Shinplaster was the common name for paper money of low denomination used in the 19th and early 20th century.
It also showed a perfume vial, two perfume labels, the synthetic ivory back of a hair brush, an insurance receipt, a claim tag, a third-class dining mug and one gold cufflink.
“What makes the exhibition interesting is the stories behind the artifacts,” Ellen Flowers, media relations officer for the Ontario Science Centre, told CBC News on Tuesday.
“Those stories lead to stories about the passengers. They kind of intertwine.”
The ship, headed for New York, set sail from Southampton in southern England on April 10, 1912. It sank on April 14, 1912, breaking in two pieces. More than 1,400 people were estimated to have died when the ship went down.
The Titanic’s final resting place is somewhere off the coast of Newfoundland, with its wreck having been discovered in 1985.
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