Artist of the Peace: Marie Laventure

Our November Artist of the Peace is Marie Laventure. Her pieces are full of colour and beauty!
According to Marie, "When I start most paintings, I am unsure of what exactly will end up being on the canvas, but I love playing with paint and colours; for me, making art is meditative and in important part of my wellness maintenance."

We invite everyone to come and view Marie's work in November! And, as always, admission is free to see our art wall.

Happy Halloween from the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre

This Halloween, we thought to share a photo from a fund-raising masquerade for the Irene Cottage Hospital in February of 1915. Have a safe and happy Halloween!


PRMA80.1137.1.55



New Gift Shop items: 8x10 Archival Prints

 

View from 12 Foot Davis Gravesite, ca. 1930s (PRMAx87.1521.57)



Our Gift Shop has printed a selection of beautiful 8x10 archival prints on fine art paper available for $15 (+gst) each. This price includes a plastic sleeve for safe keeping. These prints are perfect for gifts and for framing. Thumbnails of each print are pictured below.



D.A. Thomas, ca. 1920s (PRMA2008.043.002)

Peace River Train Station, ca. 1920s-1930s (PRMA73.564f)

Delivering mail from Peace River to Fort Vermilion by dogsled, 1908 (PRMA80.1137.1.45)

Main Street, Peace River, 1967 (PRMAAR93.1.160)

Peace River, ca. 1920s-1930s (PRMA81.1162.1)

Peace River, ca. 1920 (PRMA2008.056.003)

Threshing Bee at Gilbert Axford's farm, 1929 (PRMA68.128a)

Peace River's train bridge, ca. 1920s (73.564d)

Artist of the Peace: Carole Gold

Our October Artist of the Peace is Carole Gold. Carole Gold is a talented quilter who designs many of her pieces. She has been sewing since she was a young girl and eventually narrowed her interests to quilting.

Her passion and artistic ability is evident in the pieces she creates!

We invite everyone to come and view Carole's art during October and read her story.

Alberta Archives Week

This week is Alberta Archives Week! The first week in October is used to celebrate and promote Archives and what they do in a community.
We participate also in a yearly archives exhibit through the Archives of Society of Alberta. This year's theme is: Archives in Living Colour! The exhibit can be viewed here: http://www.archivesalberta.org/2011exhibit/index.html

There will also be small displays up at the Museum, Kits Office Supply, the Record Gazette and the Peace River Library.

For our promotion this year, we are chatting with businesses and organizations around our area about what the Archives does for them and how to go about donating records to the Archives. Our Archivist, Wendy Dyck, will be presenting to the Peace River Rotary, Peace River & District Chamber of Commerce, Berwyn Women's Institute, Grimshaw & District Chamber of Commerce and Mighty Peace Tourism Association. If your organization or business is interested in a presentation, please contact the Archives at 624-4261 or museum@peaceriver.net. Here are some highlights:

• The Peace River Archives acquires, organizes and makes available inactive records from various businesses and organizations in Town of Peace River, MD of Northern Lights, Northern Sunrise County, Clear Hills County, MD #135 of Peace and MD# 136 of Fairview. Inactive records are those which are no longer needed for day to day operations of a business or no longer need to be kept for legal reasons. To discuss your donation, please contact our Archives.

• The Peace River Archives is able to provide the following services:
• conservation
• consultations on storage, care and records retention
• research and project help

Peace River WINS Alberta's Cultureville contest! & Alberta Arts Days

We WON! Peace River has received recognition from Albertans through CBC's Cultureville contest! Congratulations and thank you to everyone who voted for Peace River. To hear the announcement and Mayor Lorne Mann's reaction, click on this link:
http://www.cbc.ca/edmontonam/episodes/2011/09/29/peace-river-is-the-winner-in-the-cbcs-cultureville-contest/

To celebrate our victory, we encourage everyone to take part in the various workshops and performances going on this weekend as part of Alberta Arts Days. There are many different things going on!

Sept. 30: Peace River Music Teacher's Association Recital at the St. James Anglican Church, entry is $5 per person or $20 per family with all proceeds going to support musical program and awards in Peace River.

Sept. 30: Octoberfest at the Belle Petroleum Centre. Click here for a poster of events

Sept. 30: Family Performance Evening at 6:30 (free) at the Elks Hall in Grimshaw

Sept. 30-Oct. 1: Gallery of Artists, 10am - 10 pm at the Elks Hall in Grimshaw

Sept. 30: Mini-workshops at the Legion Hall in Grimshaw, 7-9 pm
            SQUARE DANCING: Come try out something new - good fun and great exercise!   
           All experience levels & ages welcome!

Oct. 1: Mini-workshops at the Legion Hall in Grimshaw, 9am-12pm
          GLASS & MIRROR ETCHING: Try a new craft! All supplies provided. Class suitable for
          ages 14 & up.

Oct. 1: Mini-workshops at the Legion Hall in Grimshaw, 1:00 - 4:00 pm
          IMPROV THEATRE: Feeling like you might have some actor in you? Try out Improv Theatre!  
          You never know what might happen!

          KEEPSAKE BOXES: Make your own keepsake box. All supplies provided.

Oct. 1: Sketching classes at the Peace River Library (free); 10-11:30 for children and 1-3 pm for adults

Oct. 1: 3rd Annual Reach for the Arts Night, 7-10 pm at the Elks Hall in Grimshaw (tickets available at Beyond 2000 in Grimshaw)

Oct. 1: Open Stage at Belle Petroleum Centre (free), doors open at 7:30, No Limits will be present

Artist of the Peace: Layton Paul Ramer

Berwyn Catholic Church

Our artist for the month of September is talented photographer, Paul Ramer. His exhibit: "Splendour of the Seasons" highlights the beauty of the Peace Country in all seasons. We invite you to come view his work this month.

Paul's work is available for purchase and he also has small cards and matted pieces for sale.

Peace River: CBC Alberta's 2011 Cultureville?

As some of you may have heard or even been involved with, Peace River has made it into the final six for this year's CBC Cultureville contest! We are so proud to be a part of this and hope everyone will go out and vote for Peace River once per day. Here is the link:
http://www.cbc.ca/alberta/features/cultureville/

New Research Resources available online!

The Peace River Archives received a grant from the Archives Society of Alberta and the National Archival Development Program to hire a student this summer. This student handled many front end duties as well as entering the archival maps into our database to increase their accessibility.
The Archivist was then able to spend her time putting 8 new sets of records (fonds) online on the Archives Network of Alberta website, which brings our total to 16.

 

New records include:

• Alberta Historic Sites Service fonds
• This fonds covers a survey done in Peace River and surrounding areas of many of our major historic buildings and sites.
• Alexander Wallace fonds
• Alexander Wallace started the Wallace Drug Company, which later became the Hanna Drug Company.
• Hanna Family fonds
• Sam & Grace Hanna bought into the Wallace Drug Company and it became the Hanna Drug Company. Their son, Jim, was a World War II veteran.
• Dora Lloyd fonds
• Dora Lloyd was an early nurse and matron of the Irene Cottage Hospital in Peace River. This fonds focus on her time here.
• Jack O'Sullivan fonds
• Jack O'Sullivan owned, with his partner Ted Stigsen, O'Sullivan and Stigsen Company which freighted up and down the river until 1949 as well as operating trading posts in the region. This fonds includes a great deal of information on Jack's career on the river as well as his family.
• "Peace River" Jim Cornwall fonds
• "Peace River" Jim was a tireless promotor of the possibilities in thenorth, MLA for this area as well as operating boats on the river and many other activities in the north. This fonds includes, amongst other records, 3 photograph albums of trips through the Peace Region.
• Pearl MacRae fonds
• A collection of photographs of early Peace River.
• Stanley Lawrence fonds
• This fonds contains information on two generations of the Lawrence family, the Sheridan & Juey Lawrence family and their son, Stanley Lawrence and his family.

We thank the Archives Society of Alberta and the Government of Canada for their funding for this project.