Click on the images below to learn more about some of the mug shots featured in the Arresting Images travelling exhibition:
If you are interested in booking Arresting Images for your facility, please download the following travelling exhibition essentials:
For specific booking information, please
contact Jeanie Tummon
at (705) 329-6205
or via email at jeanie.tummon@ontario.ca
In October of 2009, the Ontario Museum Association presented The OPP Museum with an Award of Excellence for an outstanding contribution to the Ontario museum community through the exhibition Arresting Images: Mug shots from The OPP Museum.
- Arresting Images is a travelling exhibition being hosted by museums and galleries throughout Ontario and across Canada beginning in 2009.
- Arresting Images will be travelling across the province and throughout the country for at least five years.
- Arresting Images features 100 mug shots (1886 - 1908) from The OPP Museum’s collection. They are reproductions, presented actual size, so both front and backs are visible.
- Arresting Images is a bilingual exhibition with an accompanying catalogue.
- Arresting Images offers hosting institutions fun and fascinating children’s activity options including the “Make your own Mug Shot” program.
May 31 – July 12, 2009
Art Gallery of Peel
Brampton, Ontario
July 19 – September 14, 2009
Simcoe County Museum
Minesing, Ontario
October 8 – December 20, 2009
Guelph Civic Museum
Guelph, Ontario
January 9 – February 21, 2010
The Station Gallery
Whitby, Ontario
February 27 – April 5, 2010
Wellington County Museum
Fergus, Ontario
April 12 – May 23, 2010
Brockville Museum
Brockville, Ontario
June 5 – September 12, 2010
Museum London
London, Ontario
September 18, 2010 – January 3, 2011
Museum of Science and Technology
Ottawa, Ontario
January 17 – March 25, 2011
Stratford Perth Museum
Stratford, Ontario
April 2 – May 19, 2011
Aurora Historical Society
Aurora, Ontario
- This Travelling Exhibition shares with the public a rare collection of historical photographic portraits from The OPP Museum’s permanent collection.
- The Exhibition provides a unique perspective on the social history of Ontario in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the practices of early policing in Ontario.
- The Exhibition highlights historical themes and social circumstances of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the phenomena of photography, and the emerging use of photographic portraits as a police identification tool.
- The Exhibition consists of 100 reproductions of criminal photo cards (mug shots), dating from 1886 to 1908, and an exhibit catalogue containing the details for each portrait and a discussion of themes being explored.
- Mug shots are records that contain sensitive personal information. The curatorial selection of the featured photographs was a lengthy, careful process.
- Each photograph is more than 100 years old. In each case, legal right of access was assessed and each individual and his/her story treated with care and compassion.
- Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy legislation and provincial archival guidelines were meticulously followed. No information concerning descendants is retained in the research relating to the collection.
- Great care was taken to ensure that the Exhibition was representative of the cross section of age, gender, ethnicity, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds in the historic collection.
- The Exhibition’s standards for research, design, publication and marketing reflect a clear commitment to the integrity of the historical record.
- To highlight the photographic portraits with a commitment to maintaining the visual integrity of the images.
- To highlight the stories of the individuals within the historical and social contexts with a commitment to the integrity of the mug shot as an historical document.
Each face is compelling; every set of eyes hints at a story. One hundred mug shots, dating from 1886 to 1908, are featured in the Arresting Images catalogue and boxed set.
Accompanying the 100 postcards of the original carte-de-visite photographs is a 32-page booklet that puts this amazing collection into the context of the times.
For sale through the OPP Off Duty ShOPP.