The Life and Art of W. A. Goodwin (1840-1940)

In 2014, staff at the Olde Gaol Museum in Lindsay, Ontario, discovered four 19th Century oil paintings stored away in the museum’s collection that had not been displayed for years. This small collection of art – and the subsequent discovery of additional artwork elsewhere in the community and country – marked the beginning of a multi-year journey of learning for the museum, as it rediscovered the artist behind the paintings, William Alfred Goodwin (1840-1940).

In learning more about W.A. Goodwin, we uncovered a story that had never before been told in the “official” histories of the community. It seems that some community stories – like those paintings – lie quietly beneath the radar of historical memory waiting to be told, waiting for public interest in them to be rekindled.

Read on to rediscover for yourself The Life and Art of W.A. Goodwin.