Terry Fox Exhibit: A Call for Artifacts

Terry Fox Exhibit: A Call for Artifacts

Posted on by Roland Sawatzky
Posted on: Wednesday April 27, 2016
A plaster bust of Terry Fox by Leo Mol in a glass display case next to a pop up banner for the Terry Fox exhibit at the Manitoba Museum. Text on the banner reads, "Relive 5,373 km of heroism."

The Manitoba Museum is hosting the Canadian Museum of History national travelling exhibit “Terry Fox: Running to the Heart of Canada” exhibit, opening July 14, 2016. The exhibit features the incredible story of Terry Fox as he embarked on the Marathon of Hope in 1980 to raise funds for cancer research. The marathon, which so many Canadians remember through annual Terry Fox Runs, is memorialized by personal artifacts collected by Terry’s mother.

We’re asking Manitobans to help us find artifacts and memorabilia that may be tucked away around the province. If you have anything related to the early days of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope, or if you have something from a Terry Fox Run that you think is special, please contact Roland Sawatzky, Curator of History  at RSawatzky@ManitobaMuseum.ca. We will potentially accept either loans or donations.

 

Image: Plaster bust of Terry Fox by Leo Mol, dated to 1982, has been loaned by the Terry Fox Foundation (Manitoba Office) for the exhibit “Manitobans Remember Terry Fox”.

Dr. Roland Sawatzky

Dr. Roland Sawatzky

Curator of History

Roland Sawatzky joined The Manitoba Museum in 2011. He received his B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Winnipeg, M.A. in Anthropology from the University of South Carolina, and Ph.D. in Archaeology…
Meet Dr. Roland Sawatzky

Museum Stories: History

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Canada’s Sexiest Plants and Fungi

Posted on by Diana Bizecki Robson
Posted on: Monday April 25, 2016

Compared to colourful birds with elaborate mating rituals and studly male mammals fighting over whom gets to mate with a harem of females, the sex lives of plants and fungi seem downright boring. To counter this perception I am pleased to bring to you my list of Canada’s sexiest plants.

A pine cone on a tree branch with a blue sky in the background..

Sexiest Name:

Rigid Pine (Pinus rigida)

To understand why Rigid Pine has a sexy name you need to know a few things about how to pronounce its Latin name: Pinus rigida. Technically the correct pronunciation of Pinus  in Latin is PEE-nus, which sounds a heck of a lot like, um, well you know. Saying the correctly pronounced genus name (as many European scientists do) with the species epithet of “rigida” afterwards is enough to get an entire crowd of botanists at a conference tittering like schoolgirls. This is why Canadian scientists prefer to pronounce it incorrectly as PIE-nus. Ah Rigid Pine, your mere name evokes sexual images in us all!

 

Image: A hard, erect cone of Rigid Pine. From Wikimedia Commons

Close up on the top of a plant with fringed white flowers at the top of a tall stem.

Sexiest plant-pollinator relationship:

Western Prairie Fringed Orchid (Platanthera praeclara)

This plant, with its tall flowering stalks and strong fragrance is not trying to attract humans, although it certainly achieves that goal. Instead the object of its affection is the Cherry Sphinx Moth. On moonlit nights the moths, attracted to the intoxicating fragrance of the orchid, hover in front of the delicate petals, slowly unfurl their coiled tongues then gently insert them deep into the spur of the orchid to reach the sweet, sweet nectar that lies within. Whew! Is it just me or did it suddenly get hot in here?

 

Image: The fragrant, sexy flowers of this orchid attract graceful moths for a moonlight rendezvous.  The Manitoba Museum.

Close up on two white water lily flowers among a cluster of green lily pads on the water's surface.

Sexiest fragrance:

Fragrant Water-lily (Nymphaea odorata)

This captivating water-lily is so popular that humans regularly grow it in backyard ponds to appreciate its gorgeous perfume. The alluring fragrance captivates more than humans: insects like beetles and bumblebees brave long journeys over water where they could easily drown to partake of the rich succulent pollen that is being offered by the plant. The scientific name alludes to the captivating beauty of these plants, referring to the water nymphs described in Greek and Roman mythology.

 

Image: Popular for their sexy fragrance, humans like to grow these water-lilies in ponds. The Manitoba Museum

A phallic shaped mushroom with a thick cream-coloured stem and dark hooded tip growing from a bulbous brown base on a ground covered with dead leaves.

Sexiest fungus:

Stinkhorn (Phallus spp.)

My first impression of the discipline of mycology was that it was the least sexy subject you could take in biology, fungi being the main organisms involved in decay. Stinkhorns however, completely changed my mind. Stinkhorns are smelly fungi that look very similar to a certain organ on a man’s body, consisting of a round cup-like base, a long shaft and a cap at the end with a little hole at the tip that emits spores. The scientist that named this genus, Carolus Linneaus, rather boldly named it Phallus. The most common species in Canada is Phallus impudicus, which roughly translates to “shameless erect penis fungus”. I’ll never forget the first time I encountered a species of Phallus  in the wild. I was really excited to finally see one of them in the “flesh” but, I have to admit I was disappointed that it was so small.

 

Image: Stinkhorns are a fungus that looks like a small, you know what. From Wikimedia Commons

An orchid with its lower sac-like petal coloured black and yellow in a very similar manner to a bee's stripes.

Sexiest international plant:

Bee orchids (Ophrys spp.)

The sexiest plants outside of Canada have to be the European Bee Orchids. These orchids are so sexy that males of a completely different species want to have sex with them! The orchid flowers look and smell like females bees. Eager young male bees land on these little orchids and try to copulate with them. As they do this, the pollen sacs (pollinia) of the orchid rub off onto to the heads (or sometimes the bums) of the bees. The next orchid those amorous bees visit will receive the pollen sacs and be fertilized.

 

Image: Bee orchids are so sexy that bees want to mate with it! From Wikimedia Commons

Dr. Diana Bizecki Robson

Dr. Diana Bizecki Robson

Curator of Botany

Dr. Bizecki Robson obtained a Master’s Degree in Plant Ecology at the University of Saskatchewan studying rare plants of the mixed grass prairies. After working as an environmental consultant and sessional lecturer…
Meet Dr. Bizecki Robson

Museum Stories: Botany

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So, once something is named, isn’t that it?

Posted on by Collections & Conservation
Posted on: Wednesday April 20, 2016

By Kathy Nanowin, past Manager of Conservation

Close up on the identification data of a herbarium specimen in the Museum Collection. It is for a Polygonus elenode Michx collected in July 1979.Recently, my husband asked me what I was working on, and when I told him I was updating the nomenclature for specimens in the Family Polygonaceae, he looked at me funny. I realized that as a non-biology person, my response was not that informative to him. It did not tell him that I was working on updating the official names of plant specimens, or even which plants they were, and it also did not make sense as to why their names would even change.

A black and borwn dog with a bushy tail stands on a wooden platforms in front of a railing before a wooden area. The dog is looking back towards the camera an a small text box near its head reads, "Je suis un chein. Wouf, wouf!"When a living organism is recognized as being unique and different from other organisms, it is assigned a scientific name. This is the name that is used in the Museum’s database. A common name may be also included, but common names are not as useful or informative. This is because common names are different in each language. For example, the domestic dog is “perro” in Spanish, “chien” in French, “sobaka” in Russian, “gŏu” in Mandarin, “hund” in Danish, and “cane” in Italian. However, the scientific name for dog is Canis familiaris, and this is the same everywhere in the world.

Even in the same language, it is not unusual for a common name to vary from country to country or region to region. A common ditch plant in Manitoba is seen below. Its scientific name is Tragopogon dubius. In Manitoba, this plant’s common name is most often Goat’s Beard, but in Europe it is known as Salsify, and in the southern United States it is called the Wild Oyster Plant.

So, each different type of organism is assigned a scientific name to be sure scientists know what organism they are talking about. Scientific names have two parts to them, the genus (Tragopogon) and the specific epithet (dubius), and these are latinized words. The scientific name is therefore a binomial, that is, it has two parts to the name. The genus is always capitalized, and the specific epithet is not. To show that this is the official scientific name of an organism, the two words are either underlined (usually done when handwritten) or italicized (usually used when typed).

A pressed Goat's Beard, or Tragopogon dubius, specimen with Museum Herbarium Collection indentification information in the lower right corner of the page.

CLose up on a Tragopogon dubius herbarium specimen identification note. The name Tragopogon dubius is underlined.

There are strict rules for naming organisms. In biology, the sub-discipline of naming organisms is called taxonomy. There are international conferences and conventions where scientists meet to discuss and agree upon the rules for taxonomy, and this may mean that names changes.

There are various reasons for names to change:

1. Sometimes a specimen is reclassified, and the name has to change to reflect this.

2. Sometimes a specimen was incorrectly identified. In the lower left photograph, the original name was actually correct. Someone changed it in 1997, and then in 2014 it was changed back to its original, correct name.

3. Sometimes it is discovered that specimens with different names are actually the same thing, and so one name is adopted over the other.

4. And sometimes, if you wait long enough, an older name resurfaces (as in the lower right photograph).This is usually because of a reorganization of the naming system.

Herbarium identification label for a 'Rumex triangulivalis' specimen showing that as the originally identified name, which was then incorrectly corrected in 1997, and recorrected in 2014.

Pressed plant herbarium specimen accompanied by an identification data panel labeling it as 'Bistorta vivpara'.

So the next time you wonder what is that tree, insect or bird, try to find out its scientific name!

Museum Stories: Collections & Conservation

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Weird Tasks: Moving the Glyptodont 

Posted on by Rhiannon Blacher

By Dr. Graham Young, past Curator of Palaeontology & Geology

 

As we have worked our way through the pliosaur exhibit project, we have come up against a series of problems that have required novel solutions. About a month ago we carried out a very strange task, and one that none of us had ever had to do before: we needed to move the glyptodont. 

Before I explain how we did this, perhaps I had better backtrack a bit, as you probably have some questions at this point: “What is a glyptodont, anyway? Where did the Museum get its glyptodont and why did you need to move it?” 

A graphic illustration showing an individual standing next to a fossil of a creature with a large armoured shell and tail (Glyptodont) displayed on a raised platform.

The glyptodont, as featured in Ward’s catalogue from 1866. 

Black and white photograph of a museum gallery with many display cases and platforms. In the foreground, bottom left corner is a fossil of a creature with a large armoured shell and tail (Glyptondont) on its platform. In the background, upper right corner, is a large fossil standing on it’s hind legs with arms raised in front of it ( Megatherium) on its platform.

The Redpath Museum in 1925, showing both the glyptodont (left) and the ground sloth (right). (photo: McCord Museum).

Photograph looking into the Manitoba Museum Earth History Gallery from behind the display platform holding the Megatherium. In the background, to the right, is the glyptodont on its display platform near descriptive panels with illustrations of the globe.

The ground sloth and glyptodont, in their positions in the Earth History Gallery from 1973 to 2016.

Glyptodonts were creatures that lived during the Ice Age, that have been described as “fridge-size armadillos,” although the largest ones could perhaps have been called “armadillos the size of Volkswagen Bugs.” They were heavy, armoured creatures that weighed up to two tonnes. They spent their time lumbering around the forests and plains of South America and southern North America,  eating trees and grasses. Glyptodonts became extinct about 10,000 years ago during the “Quaternary Extinction Event,” at about the same time as giant ground sloths and other large mammals, probably as a result of climate change and hunting by humans. 

Our particular glyptodont is a replica of a fossil that belonged to the genus Glyptodon, and like our ground sloth it came to the Museum by a long and circuitous route. The glyptodont and the ground sloth were among the earliest casts of big vertebrate fossils, produced during the late 19th century by Ward’s Natural Science Establishment in Rochester, New York. Our ground sloth (Megatherium) was supplied to the Redpath Museum in Montreal in time for the opening of that institution in 1882, while the glyptodont joined it in Montreal some years later. 

By the 1960s, the Redpath was renovating, and these immense casts were removed and needed a home. The Manitoba Museum was under construction, so the casts were transferred to us and shipped to Winnipeg. They were assembled when the Earth History Gallery was constructed, and were there in time for the gallery opening in 1973. For the forty-plus years since then, both of these huge and historic casts have stood in place on the platforms that had been constructed for them. 

Now, in 2016, we are renovating that part of the gallery so that we can install our exciting fossil pliosaur, and to make space we have had to move the glyptodont. Since this replica had been in place since long before any of us worked here, we did not have any advance knowledge of how it should be handled, and since it is an irreplaceable artefact dating from  over a century ago, we considered this move with some trepidation. Since it turned out that the glyptodont is also immensely heavy, having been constructed of plaster, wood, and iron in the best 19th century fashion, our trepidation was well placed. 

 

Close-up photograph of the Glyptodont: a four-legged creature with a large, rounded, armoured shell, and thick armoured tail reaching the ground.

Detail of the glyptodont, as it was from 1973 to 2016.

As has been the case with handling the plesiosaur specimen, our technical staff love this sort of challenge, and Bert Valentin and Sean Workman had come up with solutions in the best “jury rigged” manner. Back when we installed our mineral exhibit, Bert had modified an engine hoist so that we could move our giant amethyst specimen, which weighs close to half a tonne. Now, with a fossil cast that weighs about the same amount (we weren’t able to weigh it, so this is a best guess), Bert re-modified that hoist as a glyptodont-lifter. The following sequence of photographs shows how it went – the process was much more nerve-wracking than it appears here! 

Two individuals sit either side of the Glyptodont watching as another individual works lying on the display platform under the shell.

Bert Valentin crawls under the glyptodont to saw the head off, while Janis Klapecki and Sean Workman assist. The head will be taken out for conservation work, while we move the glyptodont’s carapace. 

The Glyptodont shell from the side with beams under it and strapped either side of it ready to be lifted off its platform using an enginge hoist.

The engine hoist is placed over the glyptodont, which is attached by thick straps attached to steel beams. The long pieces of wooden rail will allow us to control the tipping of the carapace when it is unbolted from the platform. 

View from the front of the Glyptodont shell showing steel beams running insider it at either side and attached with thick yellow straps to the engine hoist above. Bubble wrap placed on the shell protects it from the friction of the straps.

An end-on view shows how the steel beams are passed under and through the glyptodont. 

A display platform with a large fossil standing on its hind legs with its tail stretching behind it (Megatherium). The fossil’s head and arms are out of frame. A wooden additon has been added to the platform to the right of the Megatherium and a cardboard cutout in the shape of the Glyptodont lies on the top of the new addition.

Marc Hebert had built this extension to the ground sloth’s platform. A cardboard cutout shows the location to which we will move the glyptodont. 

Three individuals work together to move a large Glyptodont carapace onto a wheeled cart from a platform using an engine hoist lift.

Before Sean can begin to hoist the replica, Bert adjusts the attachments. 

Four individuals work together around the Glyptodont carapace, now being moved using the engine hoist. They hold it steady either side of the carapace with wooden rails attached to the support beams running under the shell.

It is lifted, and the scary part of the operation begins! 

The engine hoist carrying the Glyptodont carapace backed against its ne platform space beside the Megatherium fossil. Three individuals work to keep it balanced as they move it.

Sean rolls the hoist, while Bert and I use the rails to keep the carapace steady. 

On the left, two individuals stand beside an engine hoist with the Glyptodont carapace strapped to it. On the right, Dr. Graham Young stands on the new platform looking down at where the Glyptodont is to be moved.

Contemplating just how we are going to swing that heavy fragile antique up onto the platform… 

One indivudal kneels at the back of the engine hoist to watch under the Glyptodont as two other individuals use the wooden rails strapped either side of the Glyptodont to guide it into place over the platform.

…and here we go, using the cart to prop the base supports. 

Four individuals works together to lift the Glyptodont carapace onto the wooden platform, holding the wooden rails stapped either end of it.

Traditional muscle power is used to slide the glyptodont to its final location. 

Two indivduals stand either end of the new platform looking at the Glyptodont carapace, now in place.

The replica is now attached in place, ready for the rest of the exhibit to be completed around it. 

Museum Stories: Palaeontology & Geology

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Beadwork Then and Now

Posted on by Amelia Fay
Posted on: Friday April 1, 2016

One of the really fun parts of my job is when I get to interact with other researchers and assist them with their projects as they use the collection. One of these lovely individuals is Monique Olivier, Assistant to Heritage and Education Programs at Festival du Voyageur.

Two intricately beaded square dog blankets. The one on the right has a colourful fringe around the edges, and the one of the left does not, instead having two longer braids as ties. The pattern on the body of each piece is nearly identical.

Monique has been learning how to do beadwork, and she asked if she could use one of the dog blankets in the HBC collection for inspiration in a reproduction.  Today she came in with the finished piece and we laid them side-by-side, it’s pretty incredible!

I asked Monique why she chose to work on a dog blanket, since we all know there are thousands of beautiful beaded things she could have selected.  Her response?  Of all the material culture of the fur trade, dog blankets are some of the most whimsical and unique pieces.  I couldn’t agree more, and I think we both just stood there smiling at the thought of dogs all dressed up in their gorgeous blankets.  (Shameless self-promotion: check out the April-May 2016 edition of Canada’s History Magazine for a little blurb I wrote on dog blankets!).

 

Image: Monique’s new blanket on the left, the original on the right.

I’m sure you’re all wondering how she went from looking at an original museum piece to completing her own, so here’s how she tackled it:

  • First, she takes close-up images of each section and measures the size of the motifs as well as the overall piece;
  • The pictures are printed to scale, and she uses carbon paper to trace the pattern eventually transferring to brown paper bags;
  • Then she begins the actual beadwork, ripping off the paper pattern at the end

When I show off the beaded works in our collection people always ask me how long it would take, so I threw that question back to Monique. This project took her about 70 hours, including drafting the pattern. The biggest challenge? Finding the right bead colours, especially pinks and oranges. Some of the colours we have on pieces in our collections are no longer available, much to the dismay of contemporary beaders! Monique added that she owes a lot of her success to Jennine Krauchi for helping her improve and hone her skills (for recent news on Jennine’s incredible work check out this CBC article).

A beaded tea cozy. Bright floral and heart pattern on black fabric.

Beaded tea cozy made by Monique.

A smiling woman, Monique Olivier, standing behind a table in a Museum lab with two beaded dog blankets and a bead tea cozy laid out in front of her.

The artist herself, Monique Olivier.

If you’d like to see more of Monique’s work you’re in luck! Drop the Beads: Big Challenges & Small Victories in Contemporary Beadwork is a showcase of her work opening on Tuesday, April 5 at the Tiger Hills Arts Centre in Holland, Manitoba (about 1 hour, 40 min southwest of Winnipeg and you can see the centre right from the highway!). The show features both traditional pieces, like this beautiful dog blanket, and contemporary ones that reflect her interests in sci-fi, and runs until the end of the month. Monique will be there for the Open House on Friday, April 8 at 7 pm so be sure to stop by!

Dr. Amelia Fay

Dr. Amelia Fay

Curator of Anthropology & the HBC Museum Collection

Amelia Fay is Curator of Anthropology and the HBC Museum Collection at the Manitoba Museum. She received her BA in Anthropology from the University of Manitoba (2004), an MA in Archaeology…
Meet Dr. Amelia Fay

Museum Stories: HBC Museum Collection

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