Small changing exhibitions featuring remarkable scientists, educators and scholars who have lived and worked in Whanganui and influenced the world.

Whanganui enjoyed a culture of scientific discovery and learning created by independent amateurs and scholars.

By the twentieth century, Whanganui was a hub of culture and scholarship, with an opera house, a library, an observatory, a public museum, musical societies, a theatre and a philosophical society. At a time when research in New Zealand was limited and de-centralised, Whanganui people of intellect and action could make significant contributions. Researchers pursued cutting-edge science and educators explored new ideas about how and what to teach. These traditions continue today.