Make Every Day Earth Day!

By Mika Pineda, Learning & Engagement Producer for Youth Climate Action.  

Every year on April 22, we celebrate our home, the Earth, and all the wonderful things it provides us – from the food that nourishes our body, the shelter and clothing that keeps us warm, to the air and water that allow us to live and breathe.

Still looking for Earth-friendly activities?  

Join us for Earth Days at the Manitoba Museum on April 20 and 21! Play “Planet vs Plastics”, a fun and educational board game led by our Youth Climate Alliance; check out our special planetarium shows: Atlas of a Changing Earth and We Are Guardians; explore the Museum Galleries on an Earth Days scavenger hunt; and stop by the Earth Day reflection Wall to ask yourself: What action will I take to keep our environment healthy?

Help us celebrate Earth and learn how we can better protect our future, together! 

The city of Winnipeg turns 150 this year! Join Curator of History Dr. Roland Sawatzky in the Winnipeg Gallery to learn some of the early history of the city of Winnipeg.

This series is ongoing throughout 2024, so keep an eye out for more #Wpg150 videos!

Plan your visit to the Winnipeg Gallery today

The many natural history specimens in our exhibitions are familiar to Museum-goers. The dioramas and displays introduce Manitoba’s incredible diversity of life, impressing the need for conservation of our wild spaces to maintain a healthy planet. What is less familiar is that, behind-the-scenes, the Museum holds important research collections that scientists use to examine how and where organisms live. These discoveries influence public policy and help preserve our natural heritage.

For many visitors, the Museum collections on exhibit provide the first close look at an insect wing or cougar skull, the first chance to explore life underground, or to experience the wonder of just how many animal species live in Manitoba. Becoming fascinated with the natural world is a necessary first step in caring for it. A gallery exhibit influences attitudes towards our environment and can inspire the next generation of conservation advocates.

The Museum’s research collections – spanning millennia – are like a time machine that tells us about  organisms and their environment in the past compared to today. This can determine if species are affected by climate change, habitat loss, pollution, or other factors. Collections are permanent archives of the distribution of organisms and an essential resource for scientific research at the Museum and for scientists around the world. They help assess a species biology, rarity, and any environmental threats, all critical to devise strategies and policies for responsible ecological stewardship.

Museum collections play a significant educational role in exhibits and programs encouraging champions for wildlife. From the scientific evidence they provide, we can better understand changes in our environment and plan conservation action. The Museum research collections of animals, plants, and their representative fossils furnish important data to interpret the past, understand the present, and consider the future of Manitoba’s natural world.

Spring Break is back at the Manitoba Museum! March 23 through March 31, the Manitoba Museum is the place to be, with a week full of family-friendly activities, a brand-new planetarium show, a fun and interactive toddler zone, and more!

Plan your Spring Break today

The city of Winnipeg turns 150 this year! Join Curator of History Dr. Roland Sawatzky in the Winnipeg Gallery to learn about some of the history of Winnipeg as an Indigenous homeland.

This series will continue throughout 2024, so keep an eye out for more #Wpg150 videos!

By Roland Sawatzky, Curator of History at the Manitoba Museum

This year is the 150th anniversary of the City of Winnipeg. In 1874 it promoted itself from a small village nestled within the larger Red River Settlement, to a bona fide City, with all the aspirations of growth and importance it could muster. The Winnipeg Gallery at the Manitoba Museum is a great place to explore the fascinating history of our city.

The Winnipeg Gallery was completed at the end of 2019, so if you haven’t seen it yet, this year would be a great time. The gallery includes a seven-metre long wall of artifacts, related to seven themes that run through the history of Winnipeg, including Indigenous Homeland, City of Newcomers, and Celebrations, to name a few. And with special digital kiosks, you can do a deep dive into the story of each artifact, like Sergeant Tommy Prince’s authentic war medals, or a billy club from the 1919 General Strike.

Discover Winnipeg’s changes over time through our ground-breaking interactive digital map, which lets you explore the city from seven time periods, right up to today. You can release the floodwaters over our unsuspecting city, trace the growth of your neighbourhood, or track the various epidemics (and pandemics) that have hit the city over the last century and a half.

Indigenous history is integrated throughout the gallery, including a nine-Nation treaty established at the Forks in 1285 CE; John Norquay, the Métis premier (1878-1887); the story of Shoal Lake 40 and the Winnipeg Aqueduct; and the 1972 establishment of the era-defining “Professional Native Indian Artists, Inc.” art collective, plus much more.

The inspiring experiences of immigrants in Winnipeg are told through old artifacts and new stories, accessed through a “kitchen table,” where you can sit and listen to the challenges met and overcome by new Canadians, like adapting to the extreme cold, establishing a business, and learning a new language.

Then explore the changes in “Winnipeg 1920.” Most visitors call it the “little town,” but Winnipeg in 1920 was Canada’s third largest city. We’ve made changes to populate it with the diverse peoples of the time.

Our city has had its fair share of important events and contributions to the Canadian story, along with deeply challenging social disparities, from 1874 right to this moment. Winnipeg’s history is tumultuous ever-changing, and contentious. But it isn’t dull. See for yourself!

Plan your visit today

The city of Winnipeg turns 150 this year, with today being the anniversary of the first meeting of City Council! Join Curator of History Dr. Roland Sawatzky in the Winnipeg Gallery to learn some of the amazing stories shared in this space.

This series will continue throughout 2024, so keep an eye out for more #Wpg150 videos!

The Manitoba Museum launched its first-ever Youth Climate Alliance program in March 2023. The Youth Climate Alliance is a group of high school students, age 14-18, who work together to better understand climate change and its impacts. Through a series of workshops and training, the Youth Climate Alliance host events “by and for” youth.

Since then, the program has had two cohorts with each cohort tackling various issues surrounding climate change – from global and local impacts of climate change to clothing and fast fashion. The participants of the Youth Climate Alliance organize and develop an event that aims to raise awareness and start important climate conversations with their fellow youth and even adults.

While climate change is a big and complicated issue that the world is facing right now, programs such as the Youth Climate Alliance help provide a glimmer of hope to many, and with the start of the new year, the next cohort of the program is also around the corner!

Join the Alliance! The next cohort of the Youth Climate Alliance is now accepting applications.

Click here to find more details

Giving Tuesday is the world’s largest generosity movement, unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. In past years, Giving Tuesday has seen over $50 Million donated in Canada in just a 24-hour period.

This Giving Tuesday, which fell on November 28, the Manitoba Museum launched a goal to raise $50,000, with every dollar raised matched by the Carolyn Sifton Foundation. Each donation helps ensure the Museum remains a vibrant centre of learning for generations to come. But our work isn’t done: the Foundation has generously extended their matching deadline, meaning your donation today can make twice the impact.

Your support ensures the Manitoba Museum remains place that is accessible and welcoming to all in our
community. ©Manitoba Museum/Rejean Brandt.

By Carolyn Sirett, Senior Conservator

In 1973, the Nonsuch replica made its final resting place at the Manitoba Museum where it has become the largest artifact in the Museum’s collection and one of the most beloved. The preservation of this treasured little ship falls onto the shoulders of the Conservation department, whom over the past 50 years have taken great care in ensuring it sticks around for generations to come. So how does a team of trained Conservators look after a ship that has been stored indoors for the last fifty years?

Behind-the-scenes, weekly, monthly, and bi-annual maintenance tasks are completed, ensuring that Nonsuch stays in working condition.  Regular cleaning of woodwork, removal of dust from decks, and polishing of metal components keeps everything in tiptop shape.  Historical changes in footwear have also helped greatly in the preservation of Nonsuch.  There are stories from the early 1970s of Conservators removing studs from high-heeled shoes that would get stuck in the deck seams almost daily. The flat-bottomed footwear of today’s fashion style has been much more sympathetic and favorable to the lasting conditions of the ship.

The more challenging jobs are completed above the main decks, in the rigging and sails that soar high above the gallery space.  With a stomach for heights, the ratlines or rope ladders, are used by Conservators to climb up to the various sections and apply pine tar to the standing rigging.  Pine tar, an oily black substance brushed on to the ropes, is what gives the ship and gallery its iconic smell – a smell that has been said to spark memories of first field trips, first dates, and first visits.  Caring for Nonsuch is a passion for the Conservation team, and a longstanding tradition of ship secrets that have been passed down from one Conservator to the next.