Dawson City Museum

Dawson City, Yukon Territory

Origin Studios won the competition to re-design the Dawson City Museum's permanent exhibition in 2015. In addition to completely revamping the gallery spaces, the Museum also wanted to change the exhibit narrative to expand its scope well beyond the late nineteenth-century Klondike Gold Rush. The most important aspect of this retelling of Dawson's history was including and acknowledging the centrality of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation in the local story.

Origin Studios worked with the museum staff to re-interpret their original chronological narrative into a series of thematic stories that were more relevant to the collection. Part of this process involved meeting with stakeholders in the region including representatives from the Tr’ondëk Hwëch'in, who have their own visitor centre exhibition where they tell their own story; however, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch'in story is an important part of Klondike Gold Rush and subsequent colonial settlement of Dawson City and we worked with them to ensure they were comfortable with the exhibition narrative and form.

The revamped exhibition designed by Origin Studios enables the museum to emphasize certain key objects and narratives that share the compelling stories of the Klondike and the people who have lived here.

Details

Dawson City Museum, Dawson City, Yukon Territory

Permanent Exhibition

Design Service from January 2016 to December 2016; Fabrication began in 2020

Exhibit Space: 8,700 sq. ft.

Services

Exhibition Design, Interpretive Support