Re: Article on museum fundraising:
In the article dated on Aug. 15, there was a comment made that “The former permanent exhibit was around for 30 years before it was taken down a couple of years ago,” which made me realize that it might lead to a misunderstanding of the museum’s history.
The first permanent exhibit was developed with consultation with Raymond O. Harrison, a leading museum professional of the day. The rooms were the result; kitchen, dining room, parlour and two smaller rooms. These formed the core of the exhibits; but, rest assured, they changed frequently with the use of many artifacts over the years. The two small rooms went from bedrooms, to doctor’s office, dentist office, child’s room, bathroom and more.
The rooms also featured changing exhibits according to the seasons, including every year our special Christmas decorations.
The rest of the Donors’s Gallery changed many times and eventually included a school room, mayor’s office, barbershop, general store, etc., and featured changing exhibits in different showcases around the perimeter.
There have been at least two major exhibits dealing with aboriginal peoples of the region!
Our archeology collections have been featured many times.
When the museum added an addition in the early 1980s, many more permanent exhibits were installed, which changed much more often.
It would be fun if the museum would go to the dozen or so photographic albums that showed the changes. Photos taken by Peter Marryat and Eric Bundy recorded the many changes the galleries underwent. Wouldn’t it make for a wonderful historical exhibit of our own museum’s changes as it pertains to the upcoming permanent exhibits? What a great way to showcase the museum being a ‘model museum’ of its kind from the late 1970s to what is being developed today?
I hope the museum takes this opportunity to celebrate its past history as well.
Diana Anderson
Former Exhibits Co-ordinator for 30 years
Red Deer