Waterloo Region Museum

Coming of Age

This new exhibit is now open!

Adolescence is a timeless, universal experience. Today's teens share many of the experiences of their parents and grandparents - high school, work, fads, fun, romance, even inter-generational conflict.

Coming of Age explores the life of teenagers from 1920 through today and is a fun look at the teenager in our community through the years.

The exhibit includes artifacts from the Waterloo Region Museum collection and images from many archival collections in the community. 

Consulting on the exhibit is Dr. Cynthia Comacchio, Professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University, and author of The Dominion of Youth: Adolescence and the Making of a Modern Canada, 1920-50, published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

Visitors to the museum will see that while different from other generations, today's teens share the fundamental experiences that characterize the lives of youth for the last century. Youth culture adapts to and influences society, the music we listen to, the clothes we wear - and the words that we use in everyday language.

Discover what it meant and means to be young in Waterloo Region - regardless of your generation - in the Coming of Age exhibit at the Waterloo Region Museum.