Daniel Wheeler Featured Artist

Dan Wheeler has been pursuing his passion for capturing shape, form and light textures through the lens of a digital camera for over thirty years. The black and white works on exhibit for the month of November portray the soft shapes of a lily, a snow dusted dove of an historic sculpture at Dunvegan, the lines of aspen trees draped by prayer cloths in the Kootenai and the shadows of a window at the historic St.Augustine Church.
Dan likes to draw the viewer's eyes to the details his camera finds once he has explored the object or scene as a whole. His love of hiking and climbing offers an abundance of opportunities to slow down and really see his surroundings. Dan produces his own photographs and has recently experimented with sugar cane paper, a renewable resource, as a medium. This exhibit will be up for the month of November and there is no fee to view.

From Peace River to Paris: Fashionable Furs of our Century

Just in time for the winter months, we invite you to view our current exhibit "From Peace River to Paris – Fashionable Furs of the Century" featuring fur coats and accessories from our collection. The exhibit includes the story of trapping in northern Alberta, both from a historical and contemporary perspective. The opening reception will be held October 27th from 3 – 5pm with guests Dave Cummings from Fairview and our own Ruth Kidder speaking about their history with furs and trapping in the Peace at 3:30pm.
Excerpts from the Record Gazette newspaper demonstrate trapping activity in the 1950s:
1950-12-07  Little Red River - Trapping is underway. It is reported there will be a plentiful supply of fox while supplies of other furs will be moderate.
1951-01-18  Peace River District - Severe weather and heavy snow at the start of the winter season provided a setback to trapping operations, when combined with higher prices in most lines has made operations more attractive.
Squirrels continue to provide the bulk of the catch with weasel in short supply. Red and cross fox are reported to be in more plentiful supply than last year.
1951-06-14 - North Salt Prairie - Louis Auger came out from fur trapping Saturday. He says water and lakes are high, making it difficult to get furs this year.
Visit the Museum to read more about the Record Gazette coverage of trapping in the Peace.

As part of this exhibit, Alberta Trappers Association President, Gordy Klassen will be the next speaker at the Museum on November 17th, thanks to the support of the Peace River Trappers Local 1195.

Peace River Museum nominated for Community Spirit Award!

The Museum is honoured to have been nominated for this year's Peace River & District Chamber of Commerce Davis Awards! We are a part of a great community and we appreciate and enjoy the support of Peace River residents, organizations and businesses.

We would love it if you would vote for us! The deadline is Tuesday, October 9th at 4:30 pm. You can vote by going to the Chamber's facebook page or their website which has voting forms.

Thank you to all for your support!

Alberta Archives Celebration: School Memories!

Do you remember this style?

Or perhaps these ones?

October is the Alberta Archives Celebration and the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre is asking our communities in the Town of Peace River, Town of Grimshaw, MD of Peace #135, MD of Fairview #136, Northern Sunrise County, Clear Hills County, and County of Northern Lights to search through their records and remember their school days! The Archives has a great collection of yearbooks (where we found these lovely graduates!), but we are looking to expand that collection. We are interested in donations of yearbooks, photographs, newsletters, reports, school board minutes and any other pieces related to any of the schools in the North Peace Region, historically and all the way up to present times.

The materials we receive will be used for genealogy research, programming and for use in exhibits as well. If you have any questions please feel free to contact our Archivist, Wendy Dyck, at 780-624-4261 or museum@peaceriver.net

Alberta Culture Days this weekend!

The Town of Peace River will be participating in Alberta Culture Days this weekend from Friday Sept. 28th to Saturday Sept. 29th with Culture Scene 2012. The weekend will include live performances, art displays and workshops around Peace River from our vibrant arts and culture community!

You can like the Town of Peace River's Facebook page for detailed itineraries and a map of the events taking place this weekend. We hope everyone can come out and celebrate the Culture of Peace River!!

The Museum will be open our regular hours this Friday and Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm with members of our staff also out and about on Saturday volunteering with the Main Street Event.

Museum hosts Minister of Culture

We were pleased to host Honourable Heather Klimchuk, Minister of Culture on August 31st. Also travelling with her were John Tuckwell, Director of Alberta Culture Communications; Barb Toker, Public Affairs Officer; Jeremy Block, Chief of Staff & Shannon Marchand, Assistant Deputy Minister. Touring the Minister was our very own MLA, Honourable Frank Oberle, Associate Minister of Services for Persons with Disabilities.
Minister Klimchuk was especially interested in the local partnerships that have been created in the heritage sector in the north. The Museum invited some our partners to attend and it was wonderful to share our time with representatives from the Sir Alexander Mackenzie Historical Society, Peace of Art, Peace River & District Genealogy Society, our own advisory board and the Heritage Places Committee.


Minister Klimchuk poses with Sonia Rosychuk, the artist who created the fascinating teepee installment on our property.

  It was a lovely time of touring and sharing ideas and issues. Thank you to the Minister and her team for coming to visit and to the Honourable Frank Oberle as well.

Author and Wildlife Photographer visits the Museum

Hälle Flygare, well-known wildlife and nature photographer, recently visited the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre with fellow photographer, Dr. Robert Berdan. They were on their way to Yellowknife to capture the Aurora Borealis with their lenses.

Flygare’s association with the Museum and Alexander Mackenzie’s overland route from the Fraser River to the Pacific Ocean has been a long and productive one. Flygare played an integral role in the establishment of a Master Development Plan for the route Mackenzie took on his way to the Pacific Ocean. It was once called the Alexander Mackenzie Grease Trail, but convention suggested the word “grease” be dropped, although its historical validity was appreciated. It is now referred to as the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail, which covers, not only the prehistoric trade trails, but also the 100 kilometres of Bella Coola Valley and coastal fiord not grease trails, as well as the Tweedsmuir Park alpine section Mackenzie hiked “that no sensible Indian would have used as a pack trail,” according to an account in In the Steps of Alexander Mackenzie, Second Edition, by John Woodworth.

Paddler Teresa Griffith regaled visitors with her tales

On Thursday night, August 16, the Museum played host to veteran paddler Teresa Griffith, owner of Flow North Paddling Company, as she regaled all those who attended with stories about her time kayaking and canoeing the Peace River in order to create the GeoTourism paddling guide of the river. She also spoke a bit about her time as Captain of GeoTourism's replica York Boat on its inaugural voyage in 2011.

Attendees were inspired by Teresa's speaking, because she brings personal experiences and feelings into her tales. Her experience is vast; she has spent many days paddling on the Peace River.

This talk was the perfect accompaniment to our current exhibit Paddling Through Time: 220 Years of Canoeing on the Peace, and the Museum thanks Teresa and her husband Darren for spending a wonderful evening with us. 

Veteran Paddler Teresa Griffith to speak at Peace River Museum

In conjunction with our current exhibit, Paddling Through Time: 220 Years of Canoeing on the Peace, and the upcoming, Paddle the Peace, Teresa Griffith, owner/operator of Flow North Paddling Company, will be visiting the Museum. She will be speaking on August 16th at 7 pm about her trips on the Peace River as a solo kayaker and on the York Boat through GeoTourism Canada.

We are excited to host Teresa and invite anyone interested in our beautiful Peace River to join us on Thursday, August 16th at 7 pm at the Museum.