Manitoba Museum facts for kids
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| Former name | Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature |
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| Established | 1965 |
| Location | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Type | provincial human and natural history museum |
| Key holdings | Hudson's Bay Company Collection |
| Visitors | 303,191 (2017) |
| Architect | Herbert Henry Gatenby Moody |
| Owner | Manitoba Centennial Centre |
The Manitoba Museum is a big museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It teaches about human history and nature. It's the largest non-profit place for learning about heritage and science in the province. The museum used to be called the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature.
The museum is near Winnipeg City Hall. It was designed in 1965. The museum collects, studies, and shares stories about Manitoba's people, nature, culture, and environment. It also has a Planetarium and a Science Gallery. In 1994, the Hudson's Bay Company gave its huge collection of historical items to the museum. This was the biggest gift the museum had ever received from a company.
Contents
Discovering the Museum's History
Early Beginnings
The idea for the museum started a long time ago. In 1879, a group called the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba began collecting items. In the early 1890s, there was a small Manitoba Museum in the basement of Winnipeg's City Hall.
Later, in 1932, the Manitoba Museum officially opened. It was located in the new Winnipeg Civic Auditorium. This building is now the Archives of Manitoba Building. The museum shared this space with the Winnipeg Art Gallery until 1967. Volunteers and a small staff helped run the museum.
Building a New Home
As the museum grew, it needed a bigger space. So, in 1954, plans began for a new, modern museum. Much of the money for the new building came from the Canadian government. This was part of a project to create new cultural places for Canada's 100th birthday in 1967.
In 1964, a plan for a museum and planetarium was shown to the Manitoba government. It said that Manitoba needed a "Modern Museum of Man and Nature." This new museum would show the history of people and their environment. It would also explore Manitoba's resources, industries, and culture.
In 1965, new laws created two new groups: the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature and the Manitoba Planetarium. These were part of plans for a new Manitoba Centennial Centre. The museum's valuable collections were moved to storage while the new building was finished. The new museum cost about $3.5 million to build.
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The planetarium opened first, on May 15, 1968. The new museum facilities opened on July 15, 1970. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II officially opened them. This was to celebrate Manitoba's 100th anniversary. The collections from the old museum formed the basis for this new one.
In 1972, the museum and planetarium joined together. They became one place called the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature. In 1996, the museum became The Manitoba Museum and added a science gallery. Over the years, more galleries were added. These included exhibits on earth history, sea-trading, the Canadian arctic, and the Boreal forest. In 1997, the museum officially changed its name back to The Manitoba Museum.
Modern Changes and Expansions
In 1994, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) chose the Manitoba Museum to be the permanent home for its huge collection of historical items. To hold this collection, a new part of the museum was built in 1996. This new wing opened in 1998, and the Hudson's Bay Archives opened there in 2000.
In 1995, the museum added Alloway Hall. This hall created a larger space for special traveling exhibits. In 2017, Alloway Hall was made even bigger. It now has 9,750 square feet of space. This expansion cost $5.3 million and was paid for by the government and other groups.
The Parklands / Mixed-Woods Gallery opened in 2003. This completed the museum's big plan to show the human and natural history of all of Manitoba. A new Science Gallery opened in 2008. In 2018, the Nonsuch Gallery was updated. This happened just before the 350th anniversary of the Nonsuch ship's voyage.
On November 1, 2019, the museum opened its Winnipeg Gallery. This was the first new permanent exhibit space since 2003. The museum also started updating its heating and cooling system in 2019.
Since 2020, the Manitoba Museum has offered online tours and programs. This is because of rules from the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, they have a weekly online program called 'DOME@HOME' with their Planetarium Astronomer.
On April 8, 2021, the museum opened its Prairies Gallery. This finished a big $20.5 million project. This project also updated the Nonsuch Gallery, created the new Winnipeg Gallery, and renewed the Boreal Forest Corridor and Welcome Gallery.
Exploring the Museum's Galleries
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The Manitoba Museum has over 2.9 million artifacts and specimens. These show the human and natural history of Manitoba. Visitors can explore these stories in nine special galleries.
These galleries explore the history and environment of the province. They go from the northern Arctic coast to the southern prairie grasslands. The galleries include:
- Welcome Gallery (updated 2021)
- Earth History Gallery (1973)
- Arctic/Sub-Arctic Gallery (1976)
- Boreal Forest Gallery (1980, Boreal Forest Corridor updated 2018)
- Nonsuch Gallery (updated 2018)
- HBC Gallery (2000)
- Parklands / Mixed-Woods Gallery (2003)
- Prairies Gallery (2021)
- Winnipeg Gallery (2019)
The Welcome Gallery has a diorama showing a Métis hunter on horseback chasing bison. A new exhibit in this gallery works with the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba. It shows medals and pipes related to agreements with Indigenous peoples. This shows the museum's commitment to sharing Indigenous history accurately.
The Earth History Gallery shows Manitoba's geological history. You can see fossils from the Ordovician Sea, which covered the province half a billion years ago. You can also see fossils of giant trilobites, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs. These animals lived in Manitoba nearly 80 million years ago. In the Ancient Seas exhibit, a virtual observatory shows the Hudson Bay region during the Ordovician period. The Manitoba Museum was the first Canadian museum to recreate ancient marine life from 450 million years ago.
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The Nonsuch Gallery features the museum's most famous piece: a full-size replica of the ship Nonsuch. This ship's voyage in 1668 led to the start of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). The gallery looks like a wharf in England in 1669, where the ship has "docked." The Nonsuch replica was built in England in 1968 to celebrate the HBC's 300th anniversary. It sailed 14,000 km before arriving at the Manitoba Museum in 1974. The gallery walls were built around the replica, so it cannot be removed without taking it apart. It was built using 17th-century tools and is considered one of the best replicas in the world.
The Winnipeg Gallery opened on November 1, 2019. It tells the story of Winnipeg's growth over the last century. It includes Indigenous history and Manitoba's 150 years of immigration. The gallery has a stained-glass logo of Winnipeg that used to be in the old City Hall. A film shows Winnipeg's history in order. Themes include Winnipeg as an "Indigenous Homeland" and a "City of Newcomers." The popular Urban Gallery exhibit, now called Winnipeg 1920, is part of this new gallery. It shows a Winnipeg street scene from the 1920s.
The Prairies Gallery opened on April 8, 2021. It shows the history of the Manitoba prairies through time. It explores how people connect with the land. It also shows the plants, animals, and fungi found there. This gallery was created with help from Indigenous advisors and newcomers to Manitoba.
The Hudson's Bay Company Collection
By the 1900s, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) started collecting items. These included natural history specimens, human history artifacts, and pictures related to the company's work in North America. Many of their employees also collected their own items.
In 1920, the HBC hired someone to collect "historical relics" for a museum. Half of this collection came from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities. The HBC got these items through buying, trading, gift exchanges, and donations. The company wanted to save a record of its part in developing British North America. They saw the collection as a "gift to the nation."
In 1922, the HBC showed a big exhibit of items in its Winnipeg store. By 1926, the museum exhibit was in a new spot on Portage Avenue. The goal was to show the history of the Hudson's Bay Company. It also showed life in the fur trade and the customs of Indigenous groups.
The HBC took good care of the collections. This exhibit became one of the first major public museums in Western Canada. The collection is also one of the world's most important historical resources.
In 1994, the HBC made the Manitoba Museum the permanent home for its historic collection. This collection shows over 300 years of HBC history. The museum then held two exhibits of the collection. In 1996, a new wing was built to house the collection. This building, with a research area and public gallery, was finished in 1998. The Hudson's Bay Gallery officially opened on May 2, 2000. The items in this gallery tell stories, including the search for the famous Northwest Passage.
Manitoba Museum Planetarium
The Manitoba Museum Planetarium opened on May 15, 1968. The planetarium offers live shows. These shows combine pre-recorded videos of the sky and space with comments and questions from a presenter. They also have full-dome films for families.
In 2012, the Manitoba Museum was the first planetarium in Canada to use Digistar® 5 All-Dome digital projection technology. This technology can show the sky from anywhere on Earth or even in the galaxy. It can show how the sky looked in the past or how it will look in the future. The original projector, nicknamed 'Marvin,' is still in the theatre, even though it's no longer used.
Manitoba Museum Science Gallery
The Manitoba Museum Science Gallery is a place for hands-on learning. Each exhibit explains the science behind the experience. The Science Gallery was updated in 2016 and added two new permanent exhibits. The Brickyard: Build with LEGO Bricks has Lego tables where you can try engineering. The Engineered for Speed Race Track lets visitors build toy race cars and test them against others.
On March 22, 2014, the Lake Winnipeg: Shared Solutions exhibit opened in the Science Gallery. This exhibit has a computer game about the Lake Winnipeg watershed. In the game, visitors act as guardians of the lake. They decide what problems to solve and how. This exhibit cost over $1 million. Many groups helped fund it, including Manitoba Hydro and the Province of Manitoba.
Museum Affiliations
The Manitoba Centennial Centre owns the museum's property. They are also in charge of cleaning the museum.
The Manitoba Museum works with several groups. These include the Canadian Museums Association, Canadian Heritage Information Network, and the Canadian Association of Science Centres.
Images for kids
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The outside of the Manitoba Museum.
See also
In Spanish: Museo Manitoba para niños
