Beaded Metis Buffalo Hunter's Saddle

Mr. Rick Cuthbertson recently donated to The Manitoba Museum a beaded Métis pad saddle.  His maternal grandfather, Constable Joseph Alexander Blackburn, bought the saddle when he was in what is now Saskatchewan at the time of the Riel Rebellion.  He was stationed at Maple Creek and Medicine Hat from May of 1885 to April 1890 and was among the officers who formed the guard for the Riel trial.

Photo courtesy of Rick Cuthbertson family. Used with permission. 

The saddle is typical of those used by members of the Métis buffalo brigades and illustrated in the paintings of Paul Kane.  The beading is the work of an expert artist.  The beads are small and sewn with very fine sinew rather than linen or cotton thread and although it impossible to say for sure, it was probably made in the early 1800s.

The Arizona-Manitoba Connection

For many Manitobans, the only connection we might have with Arizona involves a certain hockey team that left Winnipeg in 1996 for warmer climes. There are, though, other connections that involve organisms from the natural world other than coyotes as mascots!

What possible connection might there be between the Sonoran desert and Manitoba's boreal forest?

I recently returned from a family vacation to southern Arizona where we were hoping to catch up with some of the local bird and lizard specialties, as well as enjoy the truly incredible environment that Sonoran desert has to offer.

Rufous-crowned Sparrow (left) and Chuckwalla (right), special but expected desert denizens.

Although we were a little early because of the mid-March timing forced by the school break, we had several species of hummingbirds, and I finally managed to see roadrunner – a “jinx” bird that I had missed on previous trips.

Southern specialties, a Broad-billed Hummingbird (left) and an Ash-throated Flycatcher (right).

But these were desert species we were expecting. For me, the strangest sight among all our bird observations was finding boreal and subarctic species of sparrows hopping among the cacti! In retrospect, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised – I know these species overwinter and migrate through the southern United States, including Arizona. And a few of Manitoba’s northern species have populations that breed in the mountainous areas of the south. Still, it came as a bit of a shock while tracking down Arizona desert specialities to instead run across White-crowned and Lincoln’s Sparrows that will be migrating through my backyard in less than a month! I hadn’t travelled all the way to Tucson to see them!

Lincoln's Sparrow (left) and White-crowned Sparrow (right), two species that occur in Manitoba but spend time in the Arizona desert, along with (occasionally) Manitoba Museum zoology curators.

The more I thought about it, though, I began to have a grudging respect for these common Manitoba species that kept showing up under prickly pears and organ pipe cactus. Many of the Arizona specialties basically hang out in desert all the time, whereas “our” migratory sparrows have to be able to deal with a huge range of habitat and conditions, from boreal and subarctic to desert. When we travel from north to south and are scrounging for food, we are relieved to find familiar forage in local produce stores carrying recognizable brands; these little sparrows manage to scratch up a meal whether under a saguaro cactus in a desert or a spruce tree in a bog – no shared seed or insect ‘brands’ between those localities.

A White-crowned Sparrow nest found in July 2008 at Nueltin Lake, Manitoba near the border with Nunavut, a long way and a very different place than the Arizona desert where they spend part of the non-breeding season. An arrow points to the well-concealed nest in subarctic scrub (left), and the nest with four eggs revealed (right).

So the Arizona/Manitoba connection runs deep on many fronts. Much as humans find a way to chase a puck in the frozen north and the Phoenix desert, our sparrows manage to raise a family in the north every summer and eke out a living in the desert in winter.  But unlike the puck chasers, the sparrows haven’t decided to move down to Arizona permanently.

Door to Door: A Collecting Trip

The Manitoba Museum recently acquired a number of objects that add to an existing collection. The Wilson family collection of bottles and crocks is an extensive one, with over 1600 artefacts.  The Wilsons contacted the Museum with an offer to donate a related collection of ceramic footwarmers and various Medalta ware. Curator Roland Sawatzky recommended we accept the offered items; the subject went to our Collection Committee, which approved it on the curator’s recommendation. Follow us now through the process of preparing for and completing the acquisition.

 Preparation

We had been provided a list of items. Knowing the number was roughly 150, with 49 of those being ceramic footwarmers, I collected 35 “Banker’s box” size boxes. An intern, Megan Narvey, cut pieces of foam for packing and placed them in every box. She also cut up some extra bubble wrap for packing.

 Pickup

Three people were involved in the pickup: Curator Andrea Dyck (Contemporary Cultures and Immigration), acting for Roland, who was undertaking fieldwork; Nancy Anderson, Collections Assistant, Human History; and Megan Narvey, Collections and Conservation intern. We rented a minivan, and all the boxes fit into the back. Arriving at the donor’s house, the empty boxes were brought in, and packing proceeded. Luckily, all the objects were stored on shelves in one area in the basement, which made packing faster. The boxes were then loaded into the van, and staff returned to the Museum. The Deed of Gift forms had been signed at the house, so the objects were legally ours to take.

Footwarmers packed in box

Unloading and Unpacking

The boxes were put onto carts and brought into the Museum, into the elevator and up to the sixth floor History Lab. 

Here is the Medalta ware unpacked in the History lab

The footwarmers in the lab

Next Steps

With all items removed from boxes, the next step is to process them. Each must be assigned a catalogue number and entered into the collection database. They also must be physically numbered, catalogued, photographed and condition reported, before being put into their permanent storage location.

More than meets the eye

The actual collection trip took approximately a half day. However, the preparation took about the same amount of time, and the next steps will be far more time-consuming. With cataloguing and condition reporting, many entries can be cut and pasted, and the conservators can use a checklist to speed the process; however, I still anticipate that the processing of these 150 or so objects will take person-hours adding up to weeks of work!

Unless you work in a museum, most likely you have no idea of the details involved in collections work. The steps I’ve described are required for all new acquisitions. This is a glimpse into the day to day tasks the Collections and Conservation department staff tackle, although it’s just one part of what we do.

The Mineral Exhibit

If you visit this page occasionally and have been wondering about when the next blog post would be forthcoming, well, I had been wondering that too. I have begun new posts several times, but in each instance my focus has been pulled away by the same all-consuming activity: my time has been taken up by the completion of a mineral exhibit. This past week, we finally did the installation, so I thought I had might as well set those posts-in-progress aside yet again. Here, instead, are some photos of the exhibit.

At the Museum we had long recognized that a mineral exhibit was one of the features most lacking in the Earth History Gallery. Minerals are the basic building blocks of rocks and other geological materials, we have a great diversity of minerals in this province’s rocks, and of course minerals are often beautiful objects that are treasured by many collectors.

For the past several years we have been collaborating with the Mineral Society of Manitoba to acquire specimens suitable for exhibit, and The Manitoba Museum Foundation and the Canadian Geological Foundation had kindly provided us with funding to construct cases. This exhibit is at the front end of the Earth History Gallery, where we only had space for a couple of cases, and the number of specimens and volume of text were quite limited, so this should have been a simple little exhibit project, no?

Continue reading HERE

Tell Me A Story

Recently, I was able to travel to New York City to visit museums in Manhattan to research how immigration history is being presented at other museums.  I was interested in three in particular: the Ellis Island Immigration Museum (http://www.nps.gov/elis/index.htm), the Lower East Side Tenement Museum (http://www.tenement.org/), and the Museum of Chinese in America (http://www.mocanyc.org/).  Each of these museums focuses on a different element of immigration history and approaches the subject in very unique ways.  They are also vastly different in their focus and scope, from the Museum of Chinese in America, whose mandate it is to present the history of one particular ethnic group, to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, which seeks to share the story of Ellis Island and the millions of immigrants of all backgrounds who came through its gates.

The Ellis Island Immigration Museum is housed in the main building on Ellis Island.  This was the most active immigrant processing station in the United States, from its opening in 1892 to when it was abandoned in 1954.  During this period, it welcomed and processed over 12 million immigrants.  In 1965, the site was incorporated into the Statue of Liberty Monument and made a National Parks Service site; however, it was only in 1986, with the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, that work at the main building on Ellis Island began and restored it to its appearance in the years 1918-1924.  The Ellis Island Immigration Museum officially opened in the main building in 1990.

As in many other museums housed in historical buildings, part of the enjoyment of being there is the experience of walking the same steps and being within the same walls that held so much history.  Ellis Island is a grand experience, from the expansive Baggage Room on the ground floor to the soaring ceilings in the Registry Room on the third.

Continue reading HERE

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.

Manitoba Museum Educator Travels North to Teach Students About Climate Change.

Most students can’t wait for school to end in June and they certainly aren’t thinking of heading north for their holidays.  But this summer, 80 students buck this trend and join the Students On Ice Arctic Youth Expedition and head to the Arctic to explore the effects of climate change and other environmental issues on this delicate ecosystem.

The Students on Ice Arctic Youth Expedition represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for youth to expand their knowledge about the circumpolar world, and to gain a new global perspective on the planet, its wonders, and its present and future challenges.

The ship- and land-based journey will explore the eastern Canadian Arctic and western Greenland between July 29 and August 13, 2012. It will involve 80 international high school students, 14 to 18 years old, and a team of 35 world-class scientists, historians, artists, explorers, educators, leaders, innovators and polar experts. Students on this summer's expedition will develop the knowledge, skills, perspectives and practices that will help them to be Arctic ambassadors and environmentally responsible citizens.

Mike Jensen, who works at The Manitoba Museum, is making his 4th consecutive trip into the Arctic with the program and is the sole Manitoban representative. “What surprised me most is just how diverse an ecosystem it really is – very vibrant with plant, animal and marine life,” says Jensen.  “Most people think of the polar region as very barren and cold – but it truly is alive.  And the weather is so wide ranging.  Some days I’m in shorts and a t-shirt and others I’m wearing layers of clothing on the deck and still can’t get warm.”

 One of the unique aspects of the Arctic trip is that 40% of the students are from Canada’s northern regions of Yukon, NWT and Nunavut.  The other 60% come from all over the world. This year’s group has representatives from all across Canada, Russia, the United States and even Greenland.

“The best part of the trip is meeting and working with these teenagers,” says Jensen. “Every year, the new crop of eager and dynamic kids just completely inspires me.”

The themes of the 2012 Arctic Expedition are Interconnection, Discovery and Transformation. Within this framework, students will learn about the changes taking place in the Arctic environment and how these are linked to broader global environmental changes. They will explore how human and natural systems are inextricably connected and consider how each of us personally relates to the natural world. Students will also examine how personal and societal transformation can take place and they will be asked to consider how their own unique skills and interests can help to bring about positive change to their own lives, communities and the world around us.

Expedition activities will include extraordinary wildlife encounters, educational day excursions, visits to remote Arctic communities and archeological sites, and opportunities to acquire first-hand knowledge and insight into the dynamics of climate change. Participants will likely encounter whales, seals, polar bears, caribou, seabirds, walruses and more. The expedition team will be a part of a powerful cross-cultural experience though which they will gain perspective on the planet and their homes.

For more on this expedition, click on:  http://www.studentsonice.com/arctic2012/

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.

The Red River Fiddle

In our new exhibit at the Manitoba Museum, “The Selkirk Settlement: 200 Years”, we feature a violin with a unique and travelled history. It was made around 1800 in London, England, in the shop of John Betts. Pierre Bruce, a Métis man from north-western Ontario, acquired it (where, we don’t know) and brought the violin with him when he settled in Red River in 1815. Pierre was the “unofficial dance master” of the Red River, leading music and dancing at local festivities.  The violin was handed down through successive Bruce generations, until it was donated to The Manitoba Museum in 1991 by the Bruce family.

The Selkirk Settlement was the brainchild of the Earl of Selkirk, who wanted to re-settle dispossessed Scottish farmers in North America. He was granted a large portion of Hudson Bay Company land holdings in 1811 known as “Assiniboia”, and planned to ship settlers to the Red River area to begin a colony of farmers. However, the people who already lived in the region were not consulted about this development, and for the first ten years of the Selkirk Settlement, political conflict was even more disruptive than the initial disastrous attempts at farming. The Red River area was inhabited by Assiniboine, Métis, and Ojibwe people, as well as HBC and North West company traders, all of whom had their own interests, alliances and conflicts. Nevertheless, the various groups did eventually co-exist peacefully (well, at least until 1870). I like to think that perhaps the dances led by Pierre Bruce and his fiddle went some way to bringing people together.

About the violin: The violin was made between 1795 and 1805 by the John Betts shop, Royal Exchange, London, England. The back is formed of two pieces of maple, quarter cut, and the interior ribs and scroll are also maple. The front is made of two pieces of spruce. The varnish is golden orange-brown in colour over a pale brown ground.  The violin was repaired in 1910 by renowned Scottish violin maker John Smith (1859-1941), who was at the time living and working at 617 Furby St., Winnipeg.

Birch Bark Canoe Video

For those of you who have enjoyed my blogs on the creation of the Birch Bark Canoe you will be interested in seeing the video of how it was made. During the intensive 7 days we spent making the canoe Lakeland Public Television documented the construction of the birch bark canoe step by step. Scott Knudson filmed much of the activity and interviewed each of us about the canoe and what it meant to each of us. Scott was one of the producers and edited together a 57:03 minute documentary. The filming was funded under the Minnesota Arts and Culutral Heritage Fund.

                                                              

 You may also be interested in the full un cut interview with Grant Goltz which has also been uploaded to youtube. The interview with Grant Goltz was filmed for audio and video clips used in the full hour documentary.