In 2007, 37 members of the Ontario Society of Artists (OSA) donated 39 of their own artworks to the Government of Ontario Art Collection. This group donation included watercolours, oils, acrylics, photographs, and drawings and represents diverse subject matter and styles.  

To acknowledge this donation and celebrate the 140th year of the OSA, the Archives of Ontario launched an onsite exhibition featuring these works in 2012.  Gifted: Donations from the Ontario Society of Artists was the Archives’ first exhibit devoted to fine art. The exhibition also featured archival records tracing the provincial government’s early support for the OSA.