The Holiday Elf Quest
November 21-January 3, 2021
After a crazy year, the elves are restless and excited to be back at the Museum! The popular elf hunt is expanding into two quests: The usual Annual Elf Hunt and, for those who think it’s too easy, the Extreme Elfish Expedition. Other Elf-inspired activities will be available.
Peruse through the first floor of the Sawyer home for the much-loved decorated trees. New this year, decades of ornaments will enhance each of the trees on display. We are featuring a Retro Tree with handcrafted felt originals, styrofoam beads, and ribbon bulbs—a Vintage Tree with miniature painted wooden characters, and a blast from the past Aluminum Tree. A unique tree will offer a ritual visitors can take part in with a reproduction of the Sawyer family-tradition, a Gift Tree. While you enjoy the decades of ornaments and trees, we are sure you find the fun and challenge of an Ornament I Spy game.
Museum Curiosities & Their Stories
August 16 - January 10, 2021
How did a wedding dress save a WWII soldier’s life? When is a dollhouse NOT a dollhouse? What is unique about an old milk bottle? What type of prisoner used wooden handcuffs? Why would a message be hidden inside a top hat? Who wore these bazaar slippers? Why would pebble stones be saved?
Museums collect objects to preserve and educate us about our past. But sometimes, artifacts have extra special sagas to tell, which are not evident by just looking at them. The Oshkosh Public Museum has combed through storage to find those items with the most intriguing chronicles to share. Missing will be the usual exhibition data-driven labels of who used what, when, and where, instead visitors will have revealed to them the captivating and sometimes even spine-tingling accounts associated with the artifacts.
People of the Waters features interactive media kiosks and a dynamic forty-foot long glass wall that showcases an array of artifacts from the Museum’s extensive collection, representing at least 13,000 years of history from Paleoindians through the Fur Trade. Learn more about the over 1,000 artifacts that make up this incredible exhibition through the Virtual Exhibition.
COVID-19 Updates
To help ensure the safety of our staff and visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic, we ask our visitors to follow the guidelines established.