Ms Verry (25), who has an honours degree in history, wrote her dissertation on the development of family holidays in New Zealand.
The exhibition, which opens in November, was a "natural progression", she said.
"It's basically just looking at cribs, or holiday houses, in the Wakatipu, starting from the first crib in the late '40s, through to the '70s and '80s."
The exhibition looks at how they were built, and how they were lived in, with plenty of stories about good Kiwi holidays told by those who experienced them.
Ms Verry had managed to find about 35 cribs in Queenstown, Arrowtown, Frankton and Kelvin Heights, and interviewed the owners, or the children of owners, who had "good stories to tell".
The oldest crib, which belonged to the Sligo family, had an interesting history.
The Sligo family bought two sections in the 1940s, one with a crib and a shed on it, but the council of the time attempted to pass a bylaw to prevent holiday homes being purchased in Arrowtown.
The Sligos won an ensuing legal battle, but when it came time to take possession of the property, the shed and loft had mysteriously been dismantled.
Ms Verry said at the time the town had a population of about 200 people, but no-one seemed to know what had happened to the shed and loft.
"That's a really cool story, but building on from there we have stories about New Year's Eve, First Footing, Elevenses . . ."
"There are lots of good stories - everyone's just been so happy to share their memories."
Ms Verry said one of the interesting stories to come out of the interviews was the division in Arrowtown of holiday homes.
On one side of the town was "Snobs Hill", which was in the Stafford St area, where holiday homes were owned primarily by professionals from Dunedin, who visited to go skiing.
On the other side of town was "Snake Gully", in the Bedford St area, where holiday homes were owned primarily by tradespeople.
Interestingly, the homes did not look very different.
The difference was in how they came to be.
"Snake Gully built them themselves; Snobs Hill paid somebody else to do it."
The "Cribbies" exhibition opens at the Lakes District Museum on November 7.
From today, the Queenstown Times will be bringing you an exclusive look each week at what will be on offer, beginning with the story of the Sligo crib, which dates back to the 1940s.
