Siblings Susanna, Catharine and Samuel Strickland emigrated to the Peterborough area at different times and were among the first English settlers in Upper Canada's backwoods. They are known primarily for their writing about their experience living here. Catharine had a strong love of nature and spent much of her time exploring Canada’s wilderness, studying the plants and animals. In 1891 she created an herbarium. This botany album consists of mounted ferns, grasses, moss and flower specimens. It is extraordinarily rare to find an intact album by Catherine Parr Traill of this size (a full 51 pages). This album is housed in our Archival collection and in 1999 the herbarium was designated as Canadian Cultural Property of outstanding significance and national importance.