The Mineral Exhibit 2: Installation

With the front glass ready to install, Bert Valentin does some final work inside the big case.

The past week we have been very busy installing our temporary exhibit on molluscs (The World is Their Oyster: Marvellous Molluscs), which will open in a few days. While thinking about this exhibit process, I remembered that there are some splendid photos of the installation of our mineral exhibit, courtesy of our designer, Stephanie Whitehouse. So as a follow-up to the post about that exhibit a few months back, here are a few images of the complicated process of assembling specimens and cases!

Janis Klapecki aligns one of the pyrite specimens from the Snow Lake area.

The amethyst, with a weight of about one-half tonne, was somewhat problematic to install! Using the loading dock hoist, it had been placed on a purpose-built steel platform. Now, Marc Hebert and Bob Peacock make sure it stays straight, while Bert Valentin cranks the modified engine hoist that will lift it to case level. The rest of us serve as ballast on the hoist.

The raised amethyst is gently lowered into place in the case. VERY gently.

I vacuum the amethyst before the case is moved into place. Hans Thater holds a light so that every bit of lint can be seen.

Marc and Bert connect the lighting power, while Bob waits to roll the amethyst case into final position.

Botanist Blown Away

This September I was thrilled to be able to go on a tour of southern Manitoba with my colleagues here at the Museum. Our mission: to learn more about the people, places and wildlife that calls this part of the province home to generate ideas for new gallery exhibits.

Fruiting Dotted Blazingstar in the prairie near Miniota.

Hawk's-beard in fruit.

One of the most memorable things about our trip was neither a person, nor a place, nor an organism. In fact, it wasn’t even an animate object-it was a force: the wind. For anyone who has spent time on the treeless prairies you know what I mean when I say that the wind has an almost tangible physical presence. Standing on the Assiniboine River valley slope on a lovely patch of mixed grass prairie near Minota, I almost felt that I would get blown away along with the Dotted Blazingstar and Hairy Golden Aster seeds. On a windy day such as that, it was easy to understand why so many prairie plants evolved wind-dispersed seeds. Plants in the Aster family are particularly adept at becoming windborne due to the extreme modification of their sepals.

Cocklebur has animal-dispersed fruits.

In most plants, the sepals are tiny leaves that simply dry up as the fruit develops. But plants in the Aster family have sepals that are highly modified into special structures called pappi. In some species, like beggarticks, the pappus consists of spines that help the fruits catch onto the fur of passing animals; cocklebur fruits have hooked prickles to achieve the same goal. In most of the prairie Asters however, the pappus is a ring or puff of feathery hairs that act like a parachute. Under very windy conditions, Aster fruits can travel many kilometres away from the parent plant. This adaptation enables plants with wind dispersed fruits to more readily colonize bare areas of soil and maintain greater genetic variability.

Most of us have picked a dandelion and blown the fruits away but we rarely examine them closely or truly appreciate their beauty and functionality. Next time you see a dandelion look a little closer before you blow and admire one of the innovations of nature.

Goat's beard has the largest wind-dispersed seeds in Manitoba

Get Zapped in Our Science Gallery

Electricity seems like magic.  But there is science behind it.  It’s great for children to learn the science behind the things that we take for granted.  

Get Zapped, which is currently at the Manitoba Museum’s Science Gallery until October, does just that, illustrating some simple ideas about electricity.  At one station, participants learn the difference between conductors and insulators.  At another, there’s a model of how hydro electricity is generated.  And there are even some objects that will make anyone over 40 smile and anyone younger confused – electric irons, typewriters, toasters and even a curling iron.

The Science Gallery is a fun (and air conditioned) place to spend some quality time with your children.  And in the case of Get Zapped, they’ll learn a little more about what is really happening when they walk into a room and turn on the light.

Museum Receives Funding Support For Database Upgrade

The Manitoba Museum uses a collections management database program called Cuadra STAR, licensed from Cuadra Associates, a California software company. The program is used for documenting the Museum’s permanent object collection.

 The collections management work the Collections and Conservation Department does relies heavily on this database program. It is where we record all of our collection transactions, from the time an object is considered for acquisition to when it legally becomes Museum property; through its life here, any use for loan, exhibit, conservation or research. Any information that we have about an object is contained in its STAR database record. There are more than 530,000 records to date.

 Over the past year, The Manitoba Museum received grant funding from both The Winnipeg Foundation and the City of Winnipeg Museums Board to perform a technical upgrade to the program. The project focused on our inventory location system. First, our location descriptions were standardized, following discussion with and input from Curatorial staff. We were fortunate in having a summer student, partially funded by Young Canada Works, to complete the vast majority of work designing, printing and applying new labels in all our collection storage areas. She made almost 5000 labels!

 In the meantime, consultation was underway with Cuadra Associates to determine required changes to the database. It took many months for the work to be completed. Collection Database Administrator Betty-Ann Penner liaised  with Cuadra Associates staff to ensure a smooth process and minimize errors. The final product was delivered in March, and now our collection inventory location system is much improved.

 The Museum’s collection database is vitally important to our mission and the work we do. It was a bit nerve-wracking during the upgrade; we had to work through glitches, but it is such a relief to have the improved system. We continue to examine our processes and look for more ways to improve our use of the database program.

 The Manitoba Museum is extremely grateful for, and wishes to acknowledge the support it received from The Winnipeg Foundation Community Grants Program, and the City of Winnipeg Museums Board Special Project Grant Program. Without this funding assistance the work would not have been possible.

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