On the Road Again: Views from the Reconsidering Museums Pilot Sites

Caroline Loewen, Project Lead 

Reconsidering Museums Project

Site visits are an important part of the Alberta Museums Association (AMA)’s work. Whether to offer a course, provide in-person advisory services, attend an exhibit opening, or simply connect, site visits bring a human touch to the AMA’s programs and services. Unfortunately, the pandemic-related public health restrictions of the last two years meant we had to scale back our in-person visits to Alberta’s museums. The lifting of restrictions, and many museums reopening just in time for spring, presented an opportunity to get back on the road and start reconnecting. Over the course of two weeks in March, Jennifer Forsyth, Lauren Wheeler, and I travelled around Alberta visiting the six museums taking part in the Reconsidering Museums project as pilot sites. Here are some of the highlights of the trips and a look at the diversity of museums across Alberta.

March 2 – East Coulee School Museum and Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site

 

A fossil display at the East Coulee School Museum

The Tipple at Atlas Coal Mine

The first day of travel took us to the heart of the badlands, East Coulee, a small community 20 km southeast of Drumheller on the banks of the Red Deer River on Treaty 7 territory. Valerie Given, Executive Director of the East Coulee School Museum, hosted us for coffee and conversation about the value of museums in the museum’s Willow Café. The museum is located in a school that originally opened in 1930. It tells the story of the local coal mining community of East Coulee, but in true badlands fashion, also has its share of dinosaurs and fossils on display. 

Inside the Tipple

In the afternoon we headed to the Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site with Executive Director Sarah Newstead. The Atlas Coal Mine was one of the 139 mines once active in the Drumheller Valley, and one of six museums participating as a pilot site for Reconsidering Museums. The weather was cold and snowy, but that didn’t deter us from venturing up the only remaining wooden tipple in Canada. 

We departed Drumheller for a foggy drive south through Wayne and its 11 bridges, enroute to Lethbridge.

March 3 – Galt Museum and Archives

The Discovery Hall at the Galt Museum and Archives

We spent the morning at the Galt Museum and Archives visiting with the board and staff about Reconsidering Museums. The museum is perched on the edge of a coulee overlooking the Oldman River and the Lethbridge Viaduct also known as the High Level Bridge. After visiting, we toured the exhibit Breathe, a collection of traditionally crafted masks demonstrating resiliency through the pandemic. This temporary exhibit was co-created by Métis artists Nathalie Bertin and Lisa Shepherd. 

Inside the walls of Fort Whoop Up 

After seeing the museum, Executive Director Darrin Martens took us down into the river valley to visit Fort Whoop-Up, a replica of the original fur trading fort built in the late 1800s. The fort was closed to the public and will reopen in the summer season to tell the complex story of the region and its people from the mid-1860s to the early 1890s with a focus on Indigenous voices. 

After a quick lunch, we got on the road hoping to beat the winter weather blowing in from the west.

March 4 – Fort McMurray Heritage Village and Heritage Shipyard

Friday saw our form of transportation change from road to air as we boarded a flight north to Treaty 8 territory. Arriving in Fort McMurray, we had a quick lunch at Mitchell’s Café, a local eatery famous for its bright yellow “sunshine bread” and headed to the Heritage Village where Programs Assistant Courtney Stock was our host and tour guide. 

Display at the Fort McMurray Heritage Shipyard

The Heritage Village is comprised of a variety of heritage buildings from the Catholic Mission and a 1940s trading post to houses, drugstores, and warehouses. It even includes the home of famous bush pilot and WWI Canadian flying ace Wop May. These buildings tell the stories of the diverse people who have lived in the Fort McMurray area including the local First Nations, the early fur trade, the work of the Catholic Church, and later settlers to the area

The Radium Scout in the Shipyard

The Heritage Village is one of two sites the Fort McMurray Heritage Society operates. Their second site, the Heritage Shipyard on the banks of the Clearwater River, is closed for the season but we headed over for a look anyways. The Shipyard is the only inland shipyard in landlocked Alberta and represents the history of Fort McMurray as a transportation hub. Historically, spring is when rail cars arrived to unload their wares for transfer to ships that traveled up the Athabasca River to distribute goods to remote communities as far north as the Arctic. A fascinating double site that explores a unique aspect of our province’s history, the Heritage Village and Shipyard were well worth the trip.    

March 9 – Royal Alberta Museum

A stop to say hello to the Mammoth at the RAM

After a weekend break, we headed up to Edmonton on Treaty 6 territory, for a two-day visit. The first day was spent at the Royal Alberta Museum (RAM), where the staff were busy preparing for the opening of a new exhibit, Drive: Reimagining the Ride. Executive Director Meaghan Patterson and a group of staff from across departments took time out of their busy schedule to learn more about Reconsidering Museums and to give us their feedback.  

After meeting with staff, we got a sneak-peak at the behind-the-scenes storage areas including the fantastic ornithological collection, always a highlight for museum lovers like us. 

March 10 – Millet Museum and Archives

An interior exhibit at the Millet Museum and Archives

Another wintry drive on the highway to Millet, about an hour south of Edmonton. We were hosted by Executive Director Tracey Leavitt and members of the board for a lively discussion about the role and value of museums, with a focus on the unique needs of rural communities.

A model of the Town of Millet

The town itself is famous for its flowers and over the last 25 years, Millet in Bloom has received five national awards. The museum collaborated with Millet in Bloom to produce a Native Plants Project display in an outdoor space near Pipestone Creek. An important part of the museum’s work is done outside its walls through projects like this one, as well as historical plaques and murals throughout town. A summer visit is likely in order, as much of the museum’s content needs to be viewed en plein air.

March 14 – Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park

The Prairie around Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park

The foyer of BCHP

The weather finally turned around as we approached our last destination, Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park (BCHP), east of Calgary on the Siksika Nation. The museum is located on the banks of the Bow River at a traditional gathering place for the Siksika people, members of the Blackfoot Confederacy. From the foyer we looked out over the Bow River to where Treaty 7 was signed on September 22, 1877 between the Crown and five First Nations: members of the Blackfoot Confederacy (the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani), as well as the Stoney-Nakoda and Tsuut’ina.

An exhibit at BCHP

Stephen Yellow Old Woman, General Manager of BCHP, and other members of staff, are helping to ensure that Reconsidering Museums includes the voices of a diversity of museums in Alberta. As historically colonial institutions, museums must include Indigenous perspectives as they work to become more inclusive and representative of our shared history.

Lucille Wright toured us through the exhibits, showing us a new exhibit in development that will house Chief Crowfoot’s regalia, which was recently repatriated from the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, UK after a long process of negotiation. The regalia, which includes a buckskin shirt and a pair of leggings, among other items, once belonged to Chief Crowfoot.

After spending so much time online over the last two years, visiting these museums reminded us of the joy of a road trip and the importance of in-person interactions, particularly in a sector where place is key to the work that we do. Meeting with museum professionals across Alberta to discuss their work only strengthened our appreciation for how diverse, creative, and resilient our sector is. Thank you to everyone that hosted and toured us around their museums. We’re looking forward to getting on the road again for more visits in the future.