Category Archives: News

Province’s Largest Annual Free Birthday Party Welcomes 8,600 Visits at Manitoba Museum Winnipeg, MB (May 14): The biggest birthday party of the year welcomed 8,600 visitors to the Manitoba Museum on Saturday, May 12, 2018 as the province marked its 148th anniversary. Visitors got to double up on the fun with an additional reason to celebrate as the Planetarium celebrated its 50th anniversary of opening on May 15, 1968. Line-ups coursed through the lower level as hundreds of families took in Planetarium Laser Shows designed for families, and waited for an opportunity to take their turn in the Science Gallery. Steady streams of Museum-goers filed through the Museum Galleries with many of…

  Winnipeg, MB (May 11, 2018): The Manitoba Museum is celebrating the Planetarium’s 50th anniversary this year. On May 15, 1968, thanks to the generosity of the Saiyde and Samuel Bronfman Foundation, the doors to the Planetarium star theatre were officially opened by Lieutenant Governor Richard Bowles – before the the Manitoba Museum, just after the March opening of the Concert Hall, and before the first moon landing. The Planetarium was a part of the Manitoba Centennial Centre complex built in celebration of both Canada’s centennial in 1967, and Manitoba’s in 1970. Over the past five decades, the Planetarium has seen some significant changes, both in terms of the state-of-the-art of…

Winnipeg, MB (May 3, 2018)   The Manitoba Museum is pleased to announce The Asper Foundation’s support of the Bringing Our Stories Forward Capital Renewal Project with a donation of $400,000. The Museum is also happy to share the news that Gail Asper and Michael Paterson have made a personal $100,000 gift to the Project. The Renewal Project will see the renewal of 42% of the Museum’s galleries including Grasslands, Nonsuch, Orientation, and Urban, as well as the creation of a new Winnipeg Gallery. This funding commitment comes in tandem with an announcement today by Manitoba Sport, Culture and Heritage Minister Cathy Cox that the provincial government will invest up…

Winnipeg, MB (February 7, 2018): Canada’s triumphs, failures, and sacrifices are on display at the Manitoba Museum in a new travelling exhibition from the Canadian Museum of History and Canada’s History Society. Showcasing unforgettable images and thought-provoking texts, Snapshots of Canada opens on February 7, 2018, in the Museum’s Alloway Hall. From the trial of Métis leader Louis Riel to Paul Henderson’s winning goal in the 1972 Summit Series, from the deportation of Japanese-Canadians after the Second World War to the standoff at Oka, the exhibition pairs 50 powerful photographs with texts by well-known Canadian historians, authors, and journalists. “The exhibition Snapshots of Canada is a journey through the highs…

Winnipeg, MB (January 23, 2018): It’s all about sea-faring adventures at the Manitoba Museum these days. he Nonsuch Gallery is being renewed. A team of ship rigging experts will be attending to the ropes of the Nonsuch. A curator will talk about her “expedition tourism” adventure. A scale model of the Franklin Expedition’slong-lostt HMS Erebus wreck will be on display. It’s Not a Pirate Ship! Stories of Modern Day Rigging Saturday, February 10 • 2 to 3 pm Over the next few months, one of the Manitoba Museum’s most beloved artifacts – the Nonsuch – is undergoing a complete re-rigging to update her ropes, clean her sails, and bring her back…

LIMITED TIME! Winnipeg, MB (January 18, 2018): The Manitoba Museum has received a scale model representing the wreck of HMS Erebus and its surrounding debris field, just as it was first seen by Parks Canada underwater archaeologists on September 2, 2014. The 1:40 scale model can be viewed in the Arctic/Sub-Arctic Gallery between January 26 and March 21, 2018. The model helps to tell the story of the Franklin Expedition, when Sir John Franklin set sail from England in 1845 with two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, in search of a Northwest Passage across what is now Canada’s Arctic. The ships and crews vanished and dozens of search expeditions…

The Manitoba Museum is open every day of Winter Break except December 25. Winnipeg, MB  (December 21, 2017): The Manitoba Museum will be open every day between Saturday, December 23, 2017 and Sunday, January 7, 2018 except for December 25 (see detailed hours below). Go below deck for a rare opportunity to see the mysterious cargo hold of the Nonsuch. Don’t miss the boat – make sure you see the beloved replica of the 17th-century ship that launched the Hudson’s Bay Company before the Nonsuch Gallery closes for renewal. While you’re here, you can “picture yourself” in a national park winter wonderland with Parks Canada’s Green Screen Photo Booth, where you choose the…

Winnipeg, MB (December 19, 2017): The Manitoba Museum’s Board of Governors gladly bestowed the second Curator Emeritus honour to Dr. Katherine Pettipas in October of this year. After working 27 years as the Curator of Native Ethnology & the Hudson’s Bay Company Museum Collection, Dr. Pettipas retired from the Museum in 2011. Seema Hollenberg, Director of Research, Collections & Exhibitions was pleased to support Dr. Pettipas’ nomination to continue her research and publishing on behalf of the Museum. Dr. Pettipas joined the Museum as a contract researcher for the Boreal Forest Gallery in 1974 and was subsequently hired for the position of Curator of Native Ethnology. Dr. Pettipas feels strongly that…

Winnipeg, MB (December 5, 2017): For millions of Canadians, hockey means everything. Hockey brings us together. It thrills us. It’s part of our identity, our shared history. It’s a passion handed down from generation to generation, a recreational activity, and a commercial enterprise. The puck drops on Hockey: The Stories Behind Our Passion at the Manitoba Museum on July 6, 2018. This exhibition, developed by the Canadian Museum of History and where it premiered, March 10 to October 9, 2017, details the evolution of the sport through historic highlight reels, interactive components and one-of-a-kind artifacts. Visitors will find themselves in the places where Canadians live and breathe hockey: from dressing…

Winnipeg, MB (November 30, 2017): The Manitoba Museum’s annual Tribute Gala will honour Abdo (Albert) El Tassi, C.M., O.M., LL.D. and Samira El Tassi on May 24 at the Museum’s Alloway Hall. The El Tassis are widely known and recognized as sincere, passionate donors. They work tirelessly to promote understanding, tolerance and respect across the globe. “The Manitoba Museum has a tremendous appreciation for those who support our mission, and great admiration for those who give globally as well as in their home community,” says Scott Craig, Chair of the Manitoba Museum’s Board of Governors. “Albert and Samira El Tassi are such donors. The beginning of their story is similar to…