Science and tech museum, Google create new virtual cycling exhibit

Bikes on display

Canada Science and Technology Museum/Submitted

This image of the Lawson Lever Safety bicycle of 1878 is featured in the Canada Science and Technology Museum’s new virtual cycling exhibit, created through a partnership with the Google Cultural Institute.

The Canada Science and Technology Museum has partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to create a new virtual exhibit about cycling.

Photos, illustrations and stories about early big-wheel bicycles, tricycles and wooden bikes from the museum's archives are among 25 historical types of pedal-powered technology that will be featured in the exhibit, entitled Cycling: The Evolution of an Experience, 1818-1900. 

The partnership gives the museum the distinction of being the first national museum to launch a virtual exhibition in partnership with Google's virtual museum platform, the museum announced on July 8.

“The Canada Science and Technology Museum has one of the world's best collections of historic bikes and printed material relating to the history of cycling,” Alex Benay, chief executive officer of the Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation, said in the statement. 

The new partnership will allow the museum to share its collection with people around the world, he said.

The collaboration was not prompted by the closure of the museum last fall. 

Rather, the partnership has provided two opportunities, including using a platform to showcase portions of the museum’s collection online “in a way that would make it accessible to all Canadians, who might never be able to come to Ottawa whether the floor was open or not,” David McGee, the museum archivist who put together the new exhibit, said in an email. 

“The other (advantage) was to contribute to the world cultural community, using a part of our collection that is not just about the Canadian experience, but about a shared scientific and technological heritage that has spread around the world,” McGee said. 

The Google Cultural Institute provides the online platform to museums and archives around the world to increase access to important cultural material as well as preserve information digitally to educate and inspire future generations. 

Several new exhibitions that will explore other aspects of the museum's archived collection are in development. 

You can view the historical cycling showcase at by typing “Canada Science and Technology Museum” in the search field at google.com/culturalinstitute.

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