In honour of International Transgender Day of Visibility, Collections Technician Aro van Dyck would like to share some of her favourite insects from the Natural History Collection! #TransDayOfVisibility
Did you know that you shouldn’t polish your silver?
Silver tarnishing is unsightly to most, with its darkened appearance and iridescent shine. To a Conservator however, we see this grey layer as a protective barrier to the valuable silver-plate below, but why is that? Silver-plated objects in your home tarnish over time when exposed to sulphur gases. Sulphur can be produced in our homes from many different things, including the paint used on the walls, to the varnish on our furniture, but also from the types of food we eat such as eggs and onions. In order to make these objects sparkle again, many people use silver polish to bring back the shine; however, these creams contain very small abrasive particles. As silver is polished over and over again, the silver-plating wears away slowly and reveals a different metal below, usually copper. To minimize this irreversible damage, it is generally best to leave that beloved silver-plated tea pot tarnished until ready to serve a hot cup!
Learn more in this video with Museum Conservator Carolyn!
A Bird in the Hand: Museum Collections and Conservation
During this cold March, the new Prairies Gallery is a comfortable place to explore the diversity, adaptations, and life histories of some of Manitoba’s wildlife. For many visitors, especially the young, the exhibits often provide the first close look at the details of insect wings and wolf teeth, the first chance to explore life underground, or to experience the wonder of just how many other animal species are fellow Manitobans.
That can mean that a gallery or exhibit is an important influence on attitudes towards our environment and might inspire the next generation of conservation advocates. And parts of our collections, including some birds now on exhibit in the new gallery, have a long history educating the public and have been filling that role for almost 100 years!
Some specimens in our collections have been teaching about biodiversity for over 100 years, including the western grebe (left) and horned grebe (middle) continuing that role in the new Prairies Gallery (far right). MM 3-6-4, MM 3-6-359
© Manitoba Museum
But many visitors don’t realize that most of the museum’s collections are not on exhibit. For example, over 95% of our bird collections, almost 7,000 specimens, are in climate-controlled storage on the 4th floor.
Why would we have all these bird specimens if they aren’t on exhibit? Where did they come from and why so many?
Our behind-the-scenes bird collection is a combination of inheritance from earlier versions of the Manitoba Museum, donated private collections, and, more recently, window and vehicle casualties brought in by the public or through relationships with zoos, government, and universities. In the distant past, birds could be professionally collected and were even traded among private citizens. That practice is, thankfully, no longer allowed, but many of these collections, some more than 100 years old, were eventually donated to the Museum where they have had a second ‘life’ through their value for public education and for scientific study. These specimens not only grace our exhibit halls, but have contributed information that appears in our exhibits as labels, short panels, or videos through primary research by scientists at the Manitoba Museum and researchers from around the world.
Having large numbers of bird specimens means that we can learn a great deal about where they live, what they eat, and other aspects of their life histories. Like people, each individual bird is unique, but having several from different places provides a statistical sample and a better understanding of their biology and a record of geographical variation in size, colour, and behaviour.
The collection is like a library or archive of the lives of birds in Manitoba. And like a library, scientists can read and borrow the ‘books’, the specimens, to study them and to discover the stories they tell about how our birds live and what they tell about our environment in general.
The Manitoba Museum holds almost 7,000 bird specimens. This library of bird life is not only a resource for exhibit and teaching, but is available to Museum scientists and researchers around the world. © Manitoba Museum
So how can these bird specimens contribute to conservation?
Collections include birds from over many decades that act much like a time machine, letting us know where and in what quality of environment they lived. Specimens provide baseline data for knowing a species occurrence and range at a specific time in the past and whether it is still there. This can help determine if species are being affected by climate change, habitat loss, or other factors. Today, bird records can include photographs and sound recordings, but this technology has only very recently been widely available. Where birds lived 30, 50, or 100 or more years ago can only be determined with certainty by voucher specimens, that is, physical evidence that a species was found at a particular place at a particular time. But even today, because Manitoba is a big province and much of it is difficult to access, we are still unsure of where some species occur. Museum curators are among the few scientists performing on-the-ground surveys to determine baseline data on distribution and retaining physical evidence of that distribution. Without these comparative data we can’t know what might be changing nor determine if conservation action should be undertaken. It is impossible to be responsible stewards of our natural world if we don’t know what lives where!
Most of Manitoba’s birds spend only a few short, warm months here to raise their young and then spend the majority of the year to the south. That means that even if we take appropriate conservation measures to safeguard our birds here, they face further challenges elsewhere. But where is that elsewhere?
Collections can help to determine where our birds spend the winter and can pinpoint where international collaborative conservation efforts should be directed. A recent study spear-headed by researchers at the University of Central Oklahoma used feather samples from specimens in the Manitoba Museum and other institutions to examine their unique molecular signatures (isotopes) to determine where four species of prairie birds overwinter. They found, for example, that prairie populations of the elusive yellow rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) – a species of special concern in Canada – spend their winters in the western portions of the Gulf of Mexico. Conservation policies can now be introduced to better manage habitat in both the breeding and wintering ranges for this rarely encountered species.
Feather samples from Manitoba Museum specimens helped to determine that prairie breeders overwinter along the western Gulf of Mexico. From Butler et al., 2021. Estimates of breeding season location for 4 mesic prairie bird species wintering along the Gulf Coast. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 133:177-189. Photos of sedge wren (MM 1-2-770), Nelson’s sparrow (MM 1-2-4645), LeConte’s sparrow (MM 1-2-4646), and yellow rail (MM 3-6-916) © Manitoba Museum
And the collections can provide valuable information about changes in our environment. Using samples of ivory gull (Pagophila eburnean) from several museums, including a 1926 specimen from the Manitoba Museum, university and Environment Canada researchers recreated a 130-year record of mercury levels in this endangered species. This time series, like a time machine, could trace the history of mercury contamination in this Arctic gull, finding that levels have increased dramatically in northern food webs. This museum collection-based study showed that bioaccumulation, the gradual build-up of heavy metals through the food chain, puts top predators like the ivory gull, fishes, and marine mammals at risk from pollutants like mercury.
The 1926 ivory gull from the Manitoba Museum (above) was one of many museum specimens analyzed to create a 130-year history of mercury levels that will inform management plans for this and other Arctic species. From Bond et al., 2015. Rapidly increasing methyl mercury in endangered ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea) feathers over a 130 year period. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 282. Photo MM 1-2-941, © Manitoba Museum
Museum collections go well beyond their important educational role in exhibits and programming to create advocates for conservation. As permanent archives of the distribution of organisms and as a critical resource for scientific research at the Museum and at science institutions around the world, specimens in the hand contribute to understanding our environment and determining strategies and policies for responsible ecological stewardship. Although I have focused on bird collections to illustrate a few applications, the Museum collections of insects, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and other animals, along with those of plants, mosses, lichens, and fungi, as well as the representative fossils of these and earlier organisms in the paleontology collections, provide important data to interpret the past, understand the present, and consider the future of the natural world in Manitoba.
Dr. Randy Mooi
Curator of Zoology
Dr. Mooi received his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Toronto working on the evolutionary history of coral reef fishes. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in the Division of Fishes of the Smithsonian Institution…
Meet Dr. Randy Mooi
Manitoba Museum’s 2023 Tribute Gala: Celebrating Community Voices
Winnipeg, Manitoba: March 24, 2023 – The Manitoba Museum will honour three prominent Manitobans at its annual Tribute Gala on Thursday, April 27, 2023.
Community leaders Stella and Edward Kennedy, long-time volunteer Nadia Thompson, and University of Winnipeg Chancellor Barb Gamey will share the honours at the gala event with proceeds supporting the Manitoba Museum’s Access for All community initiative.
This year the gala will celebrate a multitude of viewpoints and experiences through the theme, Celebrating Community Voices. The 2023 Tribute Gala honorees will join in conversation surrounding the diversity that helped shape Manitoba’s future through sharing stories and encouraging discovery at the Manitoba Museum. “Every Manitoban and visitor must come to the Manitoba Museum to really know this land, who we are, and where we have come from.” says honouree, Edward Kennedy.
The annual Manitoba Museum Tribute Gala supports the Access for All initiative by removing financial, social, and cultural barriers to visitation. Through your support, the Museum aims to further grow, diversify, and engage new audiences. To continually reflect and assess research, collections, exhibitions, and programs to enhance their relevance to Manitoba’s diverse populations including ethnicity, culture, age, gender, and abilities. Continuing to create a Museum that belongs to all Manitobans. One of the Access for All initiatives is providing Manitobans access to the Museum at no charge – those Manitobans who would otherwise not have the opportunity to engage in memorable learning experiences that bridge our understanding and love of history, nature, and science with today’s reality and hopes for the future.
“In 1971, my family travelled by car from Oshawa to visit my uncle in Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. I vividly recall our stop in Winnipeg and our visit to the Manitoba Museum and especially the fascinating Bison exhibit” says honouree Stella Kennedy, “I never imagined that Winnipeg and wonderful attractions like the Museum were destined to be such a part of my future life! Today, I am thankful that our community has the Manitoba Museum which brings so much to its visitors from Manitoba and afar. Like my experience fifty years ago, the Museum continues to have a memorable, almost magical quality for children and inspires us all to be aware of our Province and our possibilities as a community of Manitobans.”
2023 Tribute Gala Honorary Committee Members
- Gail Asper
- Dave Brown
- Gary Buckley
- Polly Craik
- Darryl Levy
- John Loewen
- Dan Murray
- Bill & Theresa Parrish
- Susan & Gord Pollard
- Gerry & Barb Price
- Sandy Riley
- Ross & Allana Robinson
The Manitoba Museum 18th annual Tribute Gala will take place in Alloway Hall on April 27, 2023. For information about reserving tables, buying tickets, sponsorship opportunities, and/or to make a donation to the Access for All community initiative, please visit our webpage or contact Cassidy Nicholls at CNicholls@ManitobaMuseum.ca or 204-988-0629.
2023 TRIBUTE GALA HONOUREES
BARB GAMEY
Barb Gamey is a co-founder of Payworks, a Manitoba based company and one of Canada’s largest national providers of Payroll, Human Resource, Time and Absence Management solutions, serving 29,000 customers, paying 700,000 Canadians while handling $35 billion in funds annually. Payworks currently employs 300 people in Manitoba and 440 nationwide.
Barb is dedicated to community involvement: she currently sits on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Board of Directors, the Business Council of Manitoba’s Board of Directors, the UM Properties Board and served as United Way Winnipeg’s 2018 Campaign Chair. Barb is the Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg and sits on the board for the University of Winnipeg Foundation. She is an ongoing supporter of numerous other community and charitable organizations.
EDWARD KENNEDY
Edward Kennedy is President and CEO of Eskay Partners Limited, an advisory and private capital enterprise. He is also CEO of Livlite Co. a Vancouver-based zero -waste grocery business and Chair of Manitoba Hydro. In August 2021, Edward retired after 25 years as CEO of The North West Company.
Edward is from The Pas, Manitoba and attended high school as a boarding student at St. John’s-Ravenscourt in Winnipeg. He holds an Honours Degree in Business from the Ivey School at Western University and a Bachelor of Laws Degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. Prior to joining North West, Edward practiced law briefly in Toronto and then worked in investment banking.
Edward has been a Board member of for-profit and non-for-profit entities including the Conference Board of Canada, the Canada West Foundation, Alaska Growth Fund and Norcraft Corporation. Edward has also Chaired the fundraising for community-based organizations including the United Way, Canada’s History and St. Johns Ravenscourt School. He has received national industry and community recognitions over his career.
STELLA KENNEDY
Stella grew up in Oshawa, Ontario and her parents were immigrants from Sicily and Ukraine. She holds an Honours Degree in Business from the Ivey School at Western University and is a Chartered Professional Accountant. Stella worked in financial services in Toronto and then moved to Winnipeg with Edward where she held management positions with Federal Industries and Centra Gas. Stella invested the greatest time in her career caring for a growing Kennedy household and the activities of their four children, Grace, Teresa, Simone and Daniel.
Today, Stella guides the Kennedy family’s larger donation activities (including United Way Family Resource Centres, Canada’s History, Pan Am Clinic, WAG – Quamajuq, the Manitoba Museum and the United Way annual campaign). She most recently co-chaired the fundraising campaign for McDonald Youth Centre (now known as The Link: Youth and Family Supports).
NADIA THOMPSON
Nadia grew up in the North end of the city. As a visual minority growing up in Winnipeg and going to school as one of the few black children, staying connected to her roots was a challenge.
Nadia graduated from Glenlawn Collegiate in 1995. After having her daughter, she went back to school to attain her Business and Office Administration Diploma from CDI College. She started her career with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority in 2007 in which she has been in various administrative positions and is currently a scheduling clerk for the Downtown West Community Homecare Nursing team.
Nadia is passionate about giving back to her community, focusing on our youth and promoting volunteerism and strengthening her community. Nadia has held volunteer positions with the Congress of Black Women, Folklorama, and the Jamaican Association.
Nadia is dedicated to the promotion of Black Culture and History throughout Winnipeg. She joined the Black History Month Celebration Committee in 2009 helping organize various events throughout the city. She continues to work with multiple organizations to promote diversity and culture in Winnipeg, connecting with various community groups to build a better connection in our city.
Past Tribute Honourees – Michael Redhead Champagne (2022), Anne Mahon (2022), Flor Marcelino (2022), Abdikheir Ahmed (2021), Hilary Druxman (2021), Jaimie Isaac (2021), Niigaan Sinclair (2021), Hannah Taylor (2021); Winnipeg Free Press (co-owners Robert Silver & Ronald Stern) (2019); Abdo (Albert) El Tassi & Samira El Tassi (2018); Gregg & Mary Hanson (Ambassadors for Canada 150 Celebration in 2017); Sanford H. Riley (2016); The Winnipeg Foundation (2015); Doug Harvey (2014); Susan Lewis & United Way Winnipeg (2013); Kerry Hawkins (2012); Ambassador Gary Doer (2011); The Chipman Family (2010); Babs & Gail Asper (2009); Kevin & Els Kavanagh (2008); Lawrie Pollard (2007); Murray Taylor & Investors Group Inc. (2006); and George T. Richardson (2005).
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Media Requests:
Charwin Dahl
Director of Development
Manitoba Museum
204-988-0656
CDahl@ManitobaMuseum.ca
Did you know that Lake Winnipeg is an endangered lake? #WorldWaterDay
Too much of a good thing! Nutrients are the building blocks of all life, but in excess they have a destructive side.
This World Water Day, learn why Lake Winnipeg is named internationally as one of the most endangered lakes in the world and what we can do about it with Mike, our Science Gallery & Planetarium Programs Supervisor.
Learn more about the importance of water in our Lake Winnipeg Shared Solutions exhibit in the Manitoba Museum Science Gallery!
Water: The Source of Life
Mika Pineda, Learning and Engagement Producer for Youth Climate Action at the Manitoba Museum, shares her thoughts on one of Earth’s most precious resources – water. Learn more about the importance of water with month-long water-based programming at the Manitoba Museum kicking off this World Water Day, March 22.
I always find water magical. It runs without any feet; it falls without getting hurt; it is a substance that exists in three different states: solid, liquid, and gas; and it makes up almost 60 percent of a human body!
Water is something that we all need to survive, and we use it every day. It quenches our thirst, cleans our clothes, allows us to cook food, and the list goes on and on.
As our weather begins to warm up and snow starts to melt, you’re probably starting to think of fun activities that you could do under the sun – from water balloon fights, soaking in the swimming pool, to kayaking at the lake – water allows us to enjoy all these things and many more!
In the summer months, water-based activities such as kayaking are a popular past time. ©Brandi Hayberg
This long-spine porcupine fish can’t be found in Manitoba’s lakes or rivers, but you can meet him at the Manitoba Museum this Spring Break! ©Manitoba Museum
Premiering March 22 and running throughout Spring Break is our new Planetarium show, The Enchanted Reef. ©Science Center der Region Heilbronn-Franken gGmbH, Pixable Studios/Mastersolution AG.
You see, water is all around us; it covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface! It’s something that we use whether we want to have fun or to meet our basic needs.
While summer is still a few months away for us to enjoy all the fun water activities, there’s no better time than now to start learning about this valuable resource with engaging programming at the Manitoba Museum!
First, come celebrate World Water Day 2023 with a viewing of our brand-new Planetarium show, The Enchanted Reef, premiering March 22 and running throughout Spring Break!
When their home reef is destroyed by a fishing trawler, three brave fish set out on a quest across the polluted ocean to find the “Enchanted Reef” — a legendary pristine haven under the sea. Full of humour and imagination, this film for the whole family is an undersea adventure that raises awareness about the impact of pollution on our oceans.
Continue the fun and join us for Spring Break running from March 25 to April 2. You’ll be able to see and touch a diverse array of shells, bones, furs, and fossils as you discover the amazing adaptations that help these animals live and thrive in lakes, ponds, rivers, and oceans throughout the world.
Try folding a jumping origami frog, make a fishy crayon rubbing, and learn how to tell the age of a fish using the power of microscopes! Then stop into our Auditorium to watch “H2WOAH!” science demonstrations and learn all about the wacky science of water.
Did you know that these gutskin pants are waterproof?
Did you know that these gutskin pants are completely waterproof? Learn more in this video with Dr. Amelia Fay, Curator of Anthropology & the HBC Museum Collection.
Did you know about this Mother-Daughter duo in Manitoba politics? #IWD2023
Did you know about mother-daughter duo Edith Rogers and Margaret Konantz? They were two Manitoban political powerhouses.
Learn more in this video with Anya, our Learning & Engagement Supervisor in honour of International Womens Day!