Have you ever wondered how diapers work? Walk through this science experiment with Science Communicator Adriana to find out!
Did you know that the Nonsuch has a trapdoor?
Did you know that the Nonsuch has a trapdoor? Join Learning & Engagement Producer Erin in the hold to learn more!
Fossils Found in Amber
Amber found at Cedar Lake, Manitoba, is famous as a source of fossil insects of Late Cretaceous age (about 78-79 million years old). Strangely, this amber originated far from Manitoba!
Amber, a fossil tree resin, has long been prized as a gem, and it provides immense evidence about the ancient world. Most amber comes from softwood trees, which produce abundant resin as protection from wood beetles; the sticky resin captures insects and other small creatures.
Cedar Lake amber came from trees that grew near what is now Medicine Hat, Alberta, on a warm floodplain inhabited by dinosaurs! Amber is very light and is easily transported. The amber now at Cedar Lake was eroded from sedimentary rock, and transported by the Saskatchewan River. It was deposited where the flow of the river slowed: at Cedar Lake, where it is incorporated into beaches. This material, found in Manitoba, tells us about insects that lived 1000 km away!
Learn more in the Earth History Gallery.
New exhibition, ‘If These Walls Could Talk,’ now open!
Don’t miss ‘If These Walls Could Talk: 50 Years of 2SLGBTQ+ Activism in Winnipeg’ during your next visit to the Museum!
Learn more about this important exhibition with Curator of History, Dr. Roland Sawatzky, and Rainbow Resource Centre Director of Advocacy, Ashley Smith.
Did you know why our oceans are SO important?
Did you know that the ocean covers 71% of the Earth’s surface? This Ocean Week, join Mika, our Learning & Engagement Producer of Youth Climate Action, to learn some of the reasons that it’s so important for us to take care of our oceans.
If These Walls Could Talk
By Roland Sawatzky, Curator of History, the Manitoba Museum & Ashley Smith, Director of Advocacy, Rainbow Resource Centre
Two-spirited, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (2SLGBTQ+) people have always lived in Winnipeg, and were and are an essential part of the fabric of our urban society. 2SLGBTQ+ communities have a rich history. The Manitoba Museum is proud to partner with Rainbow Resource Centre to help tell this important community story through this temporary exhibition of posters, which opened on May 26.
Museums are a place of artifacts and stories. Some artifacts, such as posters, seem ephemeral when they are first printed and put up on a wall. They are meant for immediate effect – they “talk” to casual passersby, but only for a few weeks before they disappear. Posters that are actually preserved make excellent artifacts for capturing a single moment in time.
The 20 posters showcased in the new exhibit If These Walls Could Talk: 50 Years of 2SLGBTQ+ Activism in Winnipeg capture the issues and concerns of the community from the early 1970s to the present. They are calls to action to advance and protect the rights of individuals in the community.
Winnipeg hosted the 2nd National Gay Conference in 1974. It was a small start – dozens of people marched down Portage Avenue with flags and banners.
In 1987 Mayor William Norrie’s Proclamation of AIDS Awareness Week set a tone of tolerance and inclusion amid a global crisis.
From the first simple sign – Gays for Equality, from 1973 – a call went out for gathering and representation at the University of Manitoba. In 1978 a poster called for gays and lesbians to “COME OUT” and speak up for human rights and to end discrimination, and protest the anti-gay rights activist Anita Bryant who was speaking in Winnipeg. In 1980 a poster protested the banning of gay books – an issue that still resonates today. During the HIV/AIDS pandemic of the mid-1980s-1990s, 2SLGBTQ+ communities suffered devastation, and rights became a matter of life and death. Posters were used to spread useful information and support for those at risk. Into the 2000s, posters promoted equality of marriage, anti-bullying measures, and transgender rights.
In 1987, Manitoba became Canada’s third province to include sexual orientation in its Charter of Rights and Freedoms – later celebrated as the first Pride on August 2 of that year. 2SLGBTQ+ activism was central to this and many other freedoms for Manitobans, and these posters tell the story of the fight for those rights, of how far the community has come, and also how much is at risk of being lost today.
The community celebrated its first official Pride Day on August 2, 1987, two weeks after Manitoba included sexual orientation in its Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
This ad for a dance party for Queer People of Colour and allies was part of a larger movement of Queer Trans Black and Indigenous People of Colour to tell their stories and fight for a shift in narrative in the larger 2SLGBTQ+ community.
Fun Fact!
The Rainbow Flag was first created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a gay man and drag queen from California. Harvey Milk, an openly gay city supervisor in San Francisco, had urged Gilbert to make a symbol of pride for the larger gay community. Over the years it has evolved to include more colours, representing diversity within the 2SLGBTQ+ community!
If These Walls Could Talk is produced in partnership with the Rainbow Resource Centre, and funded in part by the Manitoba Government, Department of Sport, Culture, and Heritage.
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
Did you know about Victorian hair wreaths?
Did you know that Victorians made mourning jewelry and wreaths from the hair of deceased loved ones? Take a close look at two of the hair wreaths in our collection with Cortney, our Collections Technician of Human History!
Did you know where Cedar Lake amber REALLY comes from?
Did you know that the beautiful amber found along the beaches of Cedar Lake isn’t actually from Manitoba? Join Dr. Graham Young in the Earth History Gallery to find out where it came from and what it can tell us about the Cretaceous period.
Planting for Pollinators
The loss of biodiversity, including wild pollinators, is an ongoing environmental problem. In Manitoba, our main pollinators are bees, flies, butterflies, wasps, moths, beetles, and hummingbirds (see www.prairiepollination.ca for help identifying them). Fortunately, there are things you can do to make life easier for these important creatures, including providing them with water, food, and nesting and sheltering habitat.
One of the first native plants to attract bumblebees (Bombus) in early spring is Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea). ©Manitoba Museum
Growing milkweeds (Asclepias) will encourage Monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterflies to lay eggs, which will hatch into colourful caterpillars. ©Manitoba Museum
Water
Pollinators need water (not just nectar) to stay hydrated, particularly in drought years. Since bird baths are too deep for most pollinators, instead provide a dish filled with pebbles or sand and water, or build a small pond.
Food
The most nutritious nectar and pollen is produced by native plants. Native plants also have the correct flower shape to fit the local pollinators’ mouthparts. Although cultivars of native plants, like bee balm (Monarda fistulosa), may produce good forage, those that are highly modified (e.g., double-bloomed species), or lack nectar and pollen (e.g., sterile hybrids) are often useless for pollinators.
To provide a regular food supply, ensure you grow at least some native species that flower in spring, summer and fall. Good choices for southern Manitoba include:
Spring (May-June)
Cherries and plums (Prunus), wild roses (Rosa acicularis), raspberries (Rubus), meadowsweet (Spirea alba), Western Canada violet (Viola canadensis), and Alexanders (Zizia).
Summer (July-August)
Giant hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), milkweeds (Asclepias), prairie-clover (Dalea), Western red lily (Lilium philadelphicum), wild mint (Mentha arvensis), obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana), and blackeyed Susan (Rudbeckia).
Fall (September-October)
Coneflower (Echinacea), blazingstar (Liatris), white aster (Oligoneuron album), goldenrods (Solidago), and asters (Symphyotrichum).
Butterflies love tube-shaped flowers like Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa).
Smooth Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve) provides excellent nectar for bumblebees (Bombus) in fall. © Manitoba Museum
Nesting and Sheltering Habitat
Pollinators need places to build their nests, and shelter over winter. However, all pollinators have different needs. Some bees prefer bare, sandy soil to nest in, others under leaf piles or clumps of grass, and yet others in plant stem cavities. To attract butterflies to breed, you must provide them with their larval host plants, often native flowers or grasses.
You can create potential nesting and sheltering habitat by leaving small leaf and wood piles in your yard, perhaps in an area that you don’t use regularly. By not mulching all your bare soil, especially in sunny spots, you can also provide breeding habitat for ground-nesting bees. Another thing you can do is delay your yard clean up until late May. The layer of dead vegetation will help to insulate overwintering pollinators from the cold.
Happy gardening!
