A New Focus in our Natural History Display !

Over the summer we have been rearranging our natural history display to give both a more comprehensive overview of the regions natural history as well as giving more information about the artifacts. We rearranged our geology display, giving it better lighting and more identification, with an emphasis on the oil industry. Our osteology (bone) display now not only speaks to the bison and other ice age animals, but also several different animals that come from the north Peace Region with an emphasis on comparative craniology and dentition. We also identified more from our palaeontology display, which emphasizes ancient sea life in Alberta.  Finally, we improved our archaeology display, giving visitors the chance to see almost every angle of our stone tools.

Our Natural History display. 

The display features everything from dinosaur bones, to a meteorite, to a partial bison spine, to arrowheads, and even the tooth of a woolly mammoth.  We invite you down to the museum to get up close and personal with our artifacts and to learn from our new display.

The Osteology display case featuring bison bones and other animals. 

Thank you to our speakers!

The Museum has been very fortunate to have two fantastic speakers over the last week. Both talented, informative, and fun speakers!

Eric Moller and Stephanie Capyk of Cardinal Creek Honey graced us with their sweet presence last Saturday, August 10th. They regaled us with stories of beekeeping and the various practices used in beekeeping.

Last night, August 15th, Teresa Griffith joined us to tell tales from her new book "York Boat Captain: 18 Life-Changing Days on the Peace River". Through laughter, stories, and fun, Captain Overboard (as she is sometimes known) shared some of her time on the Peace River with her audience, just enough to entice us to buy the book and read it for ourselves.  

Teresa Griffith signing her book for a fan. 

"York Boat Captain" Book Launch with Teresa Griffith

Have you ever met an author who was also a York boat captain? No? Well, after you meet Captain Teresa Griffith, you will no longer be able to say that.

Teresa had the audacity to become the first woman captain of a York boat – a position reserved for men in the heyday of fur trading and York boats in the 1800s. In fact, the crew of the fur-bearing boat was all men. Leap ahead to 2011. We  have not only a female captain, but also a female crew member – not token females, but hardworking, skilful participants carrying their weight literally and figuratively – Teresa as captain (sweep) and Cheryll Ferguson-Welke as oarsman along with her male counterparts.

Teresa Griffith’s book – York Boat Captain, 18 Life-changing Days on the Peace River is not a women’s story, as such, but rather a people story – a  documentation of the human spirit – merging skill with emulating the activities of days gone by – business and survival.

In Teresa’s compelling, spellbinding and informative book, she makes what might be considered mundane – the prep work – fascinating – a good lead up to the adventure of the 18 days on the Peace River for whom all involved was a life-changing experience.

Teresa’s well-written, attention-getting work is a darn good read.

York Boat landing at Riverfront Park, Peace River, June 2011.
Photo by Beth Wilkins, Researcher, Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre.  

Please see for yourself, at the launching of the book York Boat Captain, 18 Life-changing Days on the Peace River – Thursday, August 15, 7:30 p.m. at the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre. Captain Teresa Griffith looks forward to chatting with you about her adventure and signing her book, which will be for sale. Cash or cheque is acceptable.

The Art of Beekeeping

Erik Moller and Stephanie Capyk of Cardinal Creek Honey practice the gentle art of beekeeping in the County of Northern Lights with Erik’s father Knut Moller. They describe themselves as follows:  “We're a couple of beekeepers living on the edge of the Alberta prairie and northern boreal forest, one foot firmly planted in parts northern, the other always itching to get onto the ocean and into the mountains”

The Museum’s current exhibit Roots in the Peace, features a contemporary photography exhibit of local organic producers in the Peace Country and Cardinal Creek Honey can be seen in this collection. To compliment this exhibit, Erik and Stephanie will be speaking about their experiences at the Peace River Museum August 10^th, 2013 at 3pm.  This is a free event and will undoubtedly be ‘sweet’!

Walking Tours to celebrate Heritage Day - August 5, 2013

Heritage Day is August 5th, 2013! This annual Albertan holiday was created in 1974 by the Alberta Government in order to celebrate the cultural heritage of Alberta and all of its people. This day is celebrated each year on the first Monday in August.

Staff at the Museum and Archives are celebrating our local heritage in style, by offering three separate Historic Walking Tours for Heritage Day. You can learn so much by taking a stroll - things you may walk by everyday but never think twice about! Now, you get the chance to get some of those questions answered by joining us on one or all of these historic walks.

The schedule is as follows:

               11am   Learn about the Pioneers of the Peace with a tour of Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.  Meet at the cemetery.

              1:30pm   The town’s built heritage will be the focus of a stroll along the historic streetscape of 102 Street.  Meet at the Museum.

 

               1 - 4pm   Interpretive tours of the NAR Station - drop by anytime.

Dress for the weather as tours will go rain or shine! No pre-registration required.

 

For more information on the tours, please contact the Museum at 780-624-4261 or www.peacerivermuseum.blogspot.com or www.peaceriver.ca

 

 

Heritage Places Open House at Peacefest

This Saturday, during Peacefest 2013, the Heritage Places Committee (HPC) will be on hand, ready to answer any questions you might have about heritage buildings and landscapes in town. Information about the heritage places designation process and the work that has been completed to date by the Committee and the heritage consulting firm Donald Luxton and Associates, can be viewed.

The HPC would like to collect any stories and information that you may have about heritage properties in town to help us appreciate the families and businesses associated with each place. Or, maybe you have a suggestion for a heritage property that we should study in the future.

This Municipal Heritage Places Program started in Peace River 3 years ago. The first year, we studied 10 properties, including such places as Mount Pleasant Cemetery, the Telegraph Office and Athabasca Hall. This year, the program continues with 12 new properties for study, including The Ground Level Youth Centre, Ruth Kidder’s home and Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church.

If you have any stories to share about heritage properties, stop by and see our committee members from 11 am to 6 pm at Riverfront Park, this Saturday, July 13, 2013.

Free Silver Maple Trees

Courtesy of Wikipedia

The Peace River Museum was gifted 6 lovely Silver Maples from Sustainable Resources! We would love these to go to those in the area that would be willing to plant and look after these beautiful trees. As noted below, these are maple syrup producing trees! If you are interested in having one of these trees, please drop by the Museum. We are open seven days a week until the end of August from 10 am to 5 pm.

According to Sustainable Resources, "The Silver Maple is a native of Canada's deciduous forest. Usually found along the banks of rivers and lakes, several of these trees have adapted well to the Peace Country...The Silver / Sugar maple trees served as inspiration in the creation of our current national flag which flew for the first time in 1965.

The tree is capable of reaching heights of 20 - 30 metres and a diameter of up to 1.5 metres. And yes, in 15 to 20 years, you should be able to tap this tree to produce maple syrup. It takes about 35 - 45 litres of sap to produce a single litre of delicious maple syrup."

Museum Summer Events

June Artist                     The artists for the month of June are carver and painter Dave Matilpi and metal sculptor David Wilson. Both artists derive inspiration from the natural world with bold imagery. This is an exceptional exhibit!

June – October              Roots of the Peace – a bountiful harvest, is the latest exhibit at the Museum depicting the early story of mixed farming in the Peace as well as featuring a contemporary look at local organic producers and gardeners. Watch for announcements of speakers during the summer – bee keepers, gardeners, organic farmers.

July 1st                          The Museum is open on Canada Day and we have free admission!

July 12th-13th             The Heritage Places Committee and the Peace River Museum will be hosting an Open House during PeaceFest to inform the public about Peace River's Municipal Heritage Buildings Program. Learn about what buildings qualify for designation, the benefits to designating your home as a Municipal Heritage home and the process for designation. We will also have information on the heritage buildings in our town.

July – August                 Our Artists of the Month are Sherri Beaton for July and May Brown for August. Come enjoy the great talent of local artists at our monthly exhibit!

                                        Keep an eye out for Heritage days coming up August 3-5th. The Museum will be doing historic walking tours. More details to come.

                                        The Museum will be offering heritage interpretive tours this July and August at the NAR Station, Twelve Foot Davis Gravesite, Mackenzie Cairn and St. Augustine Mission Church. Our partners in this new heritage tourism project include the Municipal District of Peace, Northern Sunrise County, Alberta Infrastructure, Peace River Correction Centre and Young Canada Works. The tours begin July 4th and run until August 22rd - please see schedule below:

 

 

From left to right: Mackenzie Cairn, St. Augustine Mission Church, NAR Station, Davis Gravesite

 

St. Augustine Mission (Shaftesbury Trail, River Lot 22, Highway 684): Sundays 11am - 3pm and Thursdays 10 am - 1 pm

 

Northern Alberta Railways Station (9409 - 100 St Peace River): Mondays 1pm - 4pm

 

Mackenzie Cairn (Shaftesbury Trail, River Lot 19, Highway 684): Thursdays 2pm - 4pm

 

Twelve Foot Davis Gravesite (Fairgrounds Road off Highway 2 south) Fridays 1pm - 4pm

 

Run for Heritage!

This Sunday, June 9 the Peace River Running Club will be hosting their annual Heritage Run at the Museum. There will be a 5 x 2km Relay, and 5km walk, 5km run, 10km run and a half marathon.
The start time is for the half marathon is 9 am and other runs begin at 9:30 am. The fee is $30 for each runner and registrations can be dropped off at the Museum or sent to:
 P.O. Box 7101
Peace River, AB T8S 1S8.

The Museum is extremely grateful for the work that Running Club does each year to host the Heritage Run! We encourage all walkers and runners to join us for the run and everyone else to come and cheer them on.

See you Sunday!

The runners are off at last year's successful Heritage Run!