Count Your Pennies:
Shopping in Canada in the First Half of the 20th Century

Have you ever wondered what your money would have looked like, what life was like before credit cards, and how much you could buy with a dollar on a trip to the store a hundred years ago?

A unique travelling exhibition that, in the context of a trip to the store in three different time periods, showcases the money in common use and demonstrates the growing standardization of Canadian bank notes and coins. Visitors are invited to window shop at three stores selling grocery products: one from the 1900s, one from the 1930s, and one from the 1950s.


Exhibition Details (PDF)


Itinerary - for Count Your Pennies

October 2006 – December 2006
Nanaimo District Museum,
100 Cameron Rd.
Nanaimo, BC V9Y 3Y6

mid January 2007 – mid April 2007
Greater Vernon Museum and Archives
3009 – 32nd Avenue
Vernon, BC V1T 2L8

mid April 2007 – mid July 2007
Musée Héritage Museum
5 St. Anne Street
St. Albert, AB T8N 2N7

mid July 2007 – September 2007
Swift Current Museum
105 Chaplin St. E
Swift Current, SK S9H 1H9

October 2007 – December 2007
Fort Francis Museum
259 Scott Street
Fort Frances, ON P9A 1G8

mid January 2008 – mid April 2008
Windsor’s Community Museum
254 Pitt St. West
Windsor, ON N9A 5L5