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AUTUMN 2013
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
OCTOBER
October 11 Trees of Life opens in the Discovery Room
October 25 Wrapped: The Mummy of Pesed opens
Stars of the Pharaohs premieres at Planetarium
Members’ Night 6:00-8:30 pm NOVEMBER
“Love Thy Nonsuch” month—join us for special Nonsuch programming Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00-4:00 pm
November 11 Remembrance Day, open 1:00-5:00 pm
November 20 Annual Community Celebration, 7:00-9:00 pm
Opening this month: Aschkibokahn mini-diorama in Parklands/Mixed Woods Gallery
The Odyssey of Wawel’s Treasures 1939-1961 in the Urban Corridor
Prairie Pollination in the foyer DECEMBER
Winter Break Hours, December 21—January 5 December 21-23, open 10:00 am-5:00 pm December 24, open 10:00 am-1:00 pm December 26-January 5, open 10:00 am-5:00 pm
THE DREAM THAT NEVER DIED
In 1993, the remains of a 25 year old Cree woman, who lived 350 years ago, were discovered at Southern Indian Lake in northern Manitoba. Now, 20 years after this extraordinary archaeological discovery, we meet her in Pīsim Finds Her Miskanow, written by renowned storyteller William Dumas. The story of Pīsim (named by Dumas) is a fictionalized ac-count of a week in the young woman’s life, when she was just 13 years old. In the book, Pīsim is beginning to recognize her miskanow, her life’s journey.
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WWW.MANITOBAMUSEUM.CA
[email protected] 204.988.0647
190 Rupert Avenue Winnipeg MB R3B 0N2
WRAPPED: THE MUMMY OF PESED For the first time in 45 years a real Egyptian mummy will be on display in Winnipeg. On October 25, The Manitoba Museum opens WRAPPED: The Mummy of Pesed, its new temporary exhibit.
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Join us for members’ night on October 25!
6:00-8:30 pm
FREE admission to Wrapped: The Mummy of Pesed
FREE ancient Egypt activity book* (1 per member child)
RSVP to [email protected] or 204-956-2830.
*WHILE SUPPLIES LAST
Come in costume and go trick-or-treating* in the
Museum Galleries!
1890 souvenir mummy in coffin. (AMSC 12.042.1)
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...continued from page 1 The story is brought to life by the rich imagery of artist Leonard Paul. The sidebars on Cree language and culture, archaeology and history, maps, songs, and more illuminate a healthy and strong culture. The book was launched on September 19 at the Museum. Pīsim Finds Her Miskanow is written for middle years readers, however, all ages will enjoy the story. “The whole point of the book is to show the strength of the past and how it strengthens today’s community and helps us move into the future,” says Du-mas. “It’s to give youth a sense of identity. People need to know who they are. Ensuring the accuracy of the book demonstrates the importance of Cree culture and heritage to our youth.” This project was a seven year labour of love for Dumas, as well as for representatives of The Manitoba Museum, the University of Winnipeg, Government of Manitoba and members of the O-Pipon-Na-Piwan Cree Nation at South-ern Indian Lake. “When her body was discovered, I was working in Nelson Lake,” says Kevin Brownlee, Curator of Ar-chaeology at The Manitoba Museum. “My boss went up to investigate the report of found human re-mains. The bones were human and it looked really important and significant. He knew we had to go back the next year and do a proper recovery. I became one of the first people in 350 years to see her tools.” “I truly believe that I was part of the group selected by this woman to tell her story,” says Brownlee. “I felt we had to be respectful in telling her story. The elders said everything happens for a reason. This woman is showing herself to educate the youth because they’re starting to lose touch with their culture and history.” Pīsim Finds Her Miskanow is available for purchase at the Museum for $29.00 + tax. Show your cur-rent Museum membership card and save 10% off the purchase price.
PĪSIM FINDS HER MISKANOW
Illustration from Pīsim Finds Her Miskanow : Old Pipon by Leonard Paul.
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REAL EGYPTIAN MUMMY IN WINNIPEG ...continued from page 1
This exhibit showcases Pesed, “The Shining One,” a mummy and her coffin, and includes over 60 an-cient Egyptian antiquities, CT scans and forensic facial reconstructions of Egyptian mummies. Wrapped tells the story of the West’s fascination with mummies over the last 400 years. Wrapped’s curator, Dr. Jonathan Elias, will be in Winnipeg for the exhibit’s opening. On Friday, October 18, Dr. Elias will conduct a community presentation of his work at McNally Robinson Bookstore in Grant Park Shopping Centre from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.
The Museum also is working with artists Kim Forrest and Anne Armit with the support of Sputnik Archi-tecture to create a four metre high sarcophagus that will be installed on our Main Street plaza. Wrapped: The Mummy of Pesed opens October 25 at 10:00 am. Join us at 6:00 pm that evening for an exclusive viewing of the exhibit just for members. RSVP: 204-956-2830.
In 2014, The Manitoba Museum will unveil Lake Winnipeg: Shared Solutions, an exciting new interactive exhibit in the
Science Gallery. We are asking for your support to help develop the interpretive programming that will inspire, educate
and empower children, students and adults of all ages. Every donation makes a difference!
$50 ____ $25 ____ $10 ____ $Other ____
A tax receipt will be issued for all donations over $5
Name: ________________________________ Address: ________________________________________
City: __________________________________ Province: ___________ Postal Code: _________________
Method of payment: VISA____ Mastercard____ AMEX____ Cheque____
Card number ____________________________________________________ Expiry date ______________
Signature _______________________________________________________________________________
YES! I want to help The Manitoba Museum continue to offer outstanding interpretive programs!
Late 19th century photo by J.P. Sebah showing Pyramid of Khafre and the Sphinx. (AMSC 08.031.1)
EYES TO THE SKIES
ASTRONOMY COURSE We are now accepting registrations for our adult
beginner astronomy course Eyes to the Skies.
Participants will learn the basics of astronomy us-
ing images and video, hands-on demonstrations,
handouts and the unique Digistar 5® technology
of the Planetarium Star Theatre.
This six-week session of Eyes to the Skies begins Wednes-day, October 30. Cost: $125 (members) $150 (non-members)
Space is limited. Call 204-988-0626 to
register today!
ASK THE EXPERTS
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Complementing Wrapped: The Mummy of Pesed is the premiere of the show Stars of the Pharaohs in our newly-renovated digital Planetarium. Travel to ancient Egypt to see how science was used to tell time and to align huge buildings. Learn about the connection the ancient Egyptians felt with the stars and various astronomical phenomena and see some of the most spectacular temples and tombs of the ancient world recre-ated in their original splendour. “You can walk through these amazing temples as they would have been back in Egypt’s heyday,” says Scott Young, Manager of Science Com-munications and Visitor Experiences. “And the show is narrated by John Rhys-Davies, who played “Sallah” in the Indiana Jones movies and “Gimli the Dwarf” in The Lord of the Rings. His voice is amazing – I could listen to it all day. He really conveys the drama and impact of the ancient Egyptian civilization.” Stars of the Pharaohs premieres October 25.
COMING SOON TO THE PLANETARIUM
I wonder what is
the oldest thing
in the museum? Have you ever had a question about something you read or saw in the Museum Galleries, Science Gallery, or Planetar-ium but didn’t know who to ask? We’re here to help!
Send your name, age and question to [email protected] (subject line:
Ask the Experts) or Ask the Experts The Manitoba Museum 190 Rupert Avenue Winnipeg
MB R3B 0N2. We’ll answer one question in every issue of Features. Check out the Septem-
ber issue to see if your question was answered!
Come celebrate sustainability at the Science Gallery this fall, as we take a look at some innovative and unique ways of creating energy… with less impact on the envi-ronment! Make a hydrogen fuel cell, power a clock with a potato, see how ordinary compost can light up a bulb, and har-ness the energy of flowing water. All this and much more with Green Science, the new interactive workshop in the Boeing Explore Science Zone, weekends in Octo-ber through December.
Green Science is part of Manitoba’s Celebrating Sustainability month – learn more at sustainabilitymonth.ca.
NEW SCIENCE GALLERY PROGRAM CELEBRATES SUSTAINABILITY
MUSEUM TO CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF THE NONSUCH
This November, The Manitoba Museum is celebrat-ing a very special anniversary. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Nonsuch’s arrival at the Mu-seum site, we are launching a fundraising and awareness campaign called “Love Thy Nonsuch.” To celebrate this occasion, the Museum is planning an entire month of special programming to take place weekends in November (not including November 11). From 1:00-4:00 pm each weekend day, visitors will have the chance to explore the Nonsuch’s hold. These below-deck tours have not been offered since 2007. Costumed interpreters will be roaming the Nonsuch Gallery interpreting the fur trade era, and at 2:00, Manitoba Museum staff and external speakers will present talks on a variety of Nonsuch– and fur trade-related topics.
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PRAIRIE POLLINATORS—IN THE FOYER STARTING IN NOVEMBER
Pollinators are some of the most important animals to humankind. However, we know little about them and what they need to sur-vive. For almost ten years the Museum’s Curator of Botany has been studying the wild prairie plants of Manitoba and their pollina-tors. The Museum’s research indicates that flies, followed by bees and wasps, are the most common pollinators in the prairies. Butterflies, moths and beetles are less common but still important to certain plant species.
This new display will feature some of the plant and insect voucher
specimens that Dr. Diana Robson collected during her field work.
Delicate butterflies, big, colourful wasps, striped bees and fuzzy
flies will be featured. Additionally, four beautiful plant models cre-
ated by the Museum’s diorama artists will also be on display. Bee fly on Hairy Prairie-clover.
Have you loved the Nonsuch today?
Show your “love” by supporting the Museum’s efforts to maintain the ship for present and present generations: -Adopt your favourite Nonsuch artefact -Buy a “Love Thy Nonsuch” button at the newly renovated Museum Shop -Donate through the Museum’s Direct Mail campaign -Donations accepted online, by mail, at the box office, and in the Museum Galleries
At The Manitoba Museum, we collect objects and natural history specimens for
research and public education. However, some of our most fascinating pieces are
not on display for a number of reasons. Limitations of display space, the condition
of some of the artefacts and specimens, and the content of our permanent galler-
ies mean that the majority of our items must remain behind the scenes. As a
valued member of The Manitoba Museum, we are inviting you to learn about the
contents of our vault with this exclusive column, only in Features.
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What do the 300+ pictures on your smartphone say about you and the world you live in? This was a question I asked some of the children who partici-pated in the Museum’s Day Camp this summer, when I had the opportunity to conduct a couple of Behind-the-Scenes tours with them. I showed them a broad sample of cameras from our History collection, ranging from a Jules Richard 1913 “Verascope” stereoscopic camera to a Minox B subminiature spy camera from the Cold War era of the 1960s. We discussed what it means in histori-cal terms to be able to take a picture, perhaps out-side and in poor lighting conditions, with a camera that slides easily into one’s pocket, and then share
it with 60 of one’s closest friends with a swipe of the finger. As I started to list the features of one of the last cameras in the timeline laid out, the 1961 film-based Olympus Pen EE, however, I had to stop myself and ask of these grade 4-6 students: “Does anyone know what a film camera is?” Fortunately, a few children confirmed that they had parents or grandparents who had film cameras, so they were vaguely famil-iar with the idea. Still, the conversation made me consider a fa-miliar question anew: what kinds of things from our lives today should a museum be collecting? It is often difficult to identify the
historical significance of an object when it is a recognizable part of one’s daily life. This is compli-cated even more by living in a culture where we are prone to simply dispose of items that are no longer useful to us. This often means that, when enough time has elapsed for us to realise that an object is historically significant, these would-be artefacts have already been discarded in favour of the newest model. Trying to judge how many 12-year-old children would know what a film camera was made me realise that digital technology – itself ever marching on to the latest versions and leaving the old ones in the dust – is something that needs documenting and collecting in the Museum’s collection. Subse-quently, some familiar items, like digital cameras and cell phones from the early 2000s, have made their way into the Museum’s Contemporary Cultures collection this summer. Sometimes artefacts are old and have an air of mystery about them, but at other times they are the recognizable things right in front of us. To be creative in how we think about our lives and see the ordinary objects around us today is the challenge – and the fun – of dealing with contemporary history.
RECOGNIZABLE HISTORY IN THE MUSEUM’S CONTEMPORARY CULTURES COLLECTION -contributed by Andrea Dyck, Curator of Contemporary Cultures and
Immigration
1913 Jules Richard “Verascope” stereoscopic camera, 1913 (H9-36-333) and hand-held stereoscope, 1903 (H8-62-276) .
Olympus Pen EE with case, 1961 (H9-30-174).
