What's inSight Spring 2016

Spring 2016

OUR 130TH YEAR PAPER AND BRONZE ISAMU AKINO’S RUBBING OF ELZA MAYHEW’S SPIRIT MAMMOTHS GIANTS OF THE ICE AGE CREATING A SAFE HAVEN CHINESE LEGACY INITIATIVES

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SPRING 2016 FEATURE Mammoths CURIOUS Behind the Scenes of the Chinese Legacy Initiatives FEATURE Paper and Bronze FEATURE Creating a Safe Haven Sawdust and Sticky Notes Building Resources Celebrating Fossils in the News This Week in History GOING DIGITAL The Learning Portal From Make to Show Honest Food On the Road Again PARTNERSHIP PROFILE Tourism Victoria STAFF PROFILE The Empire Strikes Back … for Charity What’s on Calendar Upgrade your Membership Today

MANAGING EDITOR Jennifer Vanderzee Marketing & Sales Manager

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MAGAZINE COORDINATOR Leslie Johnson Membership Coordinator

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EMBERSHIP M EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Erika Stenson Head of Marketing & Business Development David Alexander Head of New Archives & Digital Preservation Michelle van der Merwe Publisher Erik Lambertson Corporate Communications Manager

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Kyle Wells Communications Specialist

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Nathan Oickle 2D Graphic Designer

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Shane Lighter Photographer

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What’s inSight is an electronic magazine released four times annually in March, June, September and December by the Royal BC Museum.

In the interest of keeping our administrative costs low—and our carbon footprint small—this print version is also provided to members in digital format at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/magazine To switch your What’s inSight subscription preference from print to digital format, please email membership@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca or call 250-387-3287.

COVER IMAGE Elza Mayhew’s sculpture Spirit; detail, top front. Ken McAllister photograph.

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Dear Friends, As we begin making preparations to celebrate the Royal British Columbia Museum’s 130th birthday in October this year, our minds turn towards our site development and renewal. With more visitors on site than ever before and more children visiting, we know the museum is an inspiration to many and is becoming a crucial place of learning about our province.

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To this end, as many of you know, we have completed our master plan—Treasures for Generations.

Our plan threads together the revitalization of all our public areas and puts more collections on display, creating an exciting pace of change. This is quite an achievement when you consider the size of the museum, its collections and archives. The key to the reorganization of the museum’s ground floor is to create more spaces for informal learning, lectures and community activities as well as new galleries that can tell the story of the Pacific and present more of our treasures.

Even before going public with our plans a number of donors have contributed generously to the first phase of our renovation. But we still need to raise more. I believe that philanthropy must play a more prominent role in the future of the museum and to that end I hope our Foundation can continue to foster a culture of giving. We have almost 40 patrons giving between $2,000 and $100,000. We have broad support across 25,000 friends and 600 active volunteers but there is always more to be done.

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Meanwhile, I would like to thank all those who give regularly to the museum and encourage all those who will give in future. By coming together we are creating a truly great and successful Royal British Columbia Museum in a historic year.

Yours,

Professor Jack Lohman, CBE Chief Executive Officer, Royal BC Museum

1. The Treasures for Generations project envisions a revitalized and expanded Royal BC Museum.

2. The reimagined public spaces of our museum put more of our collection on display, creating an inspiring environment for all visitors.

3. Students engaging and learning through Royal BC Museum’s new outreach box program.

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Mammoths Giants of the Ice Age

By Dr. Scott Cooper, Vice President, Collections, Knowledge and Engagement

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iants of the Ice Age—be they mammoths, mastodons, short-faced bears or sabre tooth tigers—are a source of fascination to most of us. When did they live? Why did they die? Could they return?

All these questions are asked and answered in our forthcoming summer exhibition —Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age. The exhibition examines the geological epoch officially termed the Pleistocene but commonly dubbed the ‘Ice Age’. This is a misnomer as the Pleistocene was not an unbroken run of arctic temperatures but rather a period characterized by rapid changes in climate—sometimes it was cold, other times warm. And it is

this environmental see-saw that is most probably responsible for the evolution and extinction of the era’s great mammals.

Your journey will begin amongst the wetlands of North Africa some 35 million years ago. Here you will meet both mammoths and mastodons and track their migration across the northern hemisphere.

shaggy coat never ventured to colder climes. The Woolly mammoth by contrast evolved perfectly to the challenges of Arctic life. Its outer covering of long guard hairs and shorter undercoat kept it warm.

Its smaller ears and tail minimized frostbite.

1. A reconstruction of how Clovis hunter’s used atlatls or throwing spears to hunt mammoths 12,000 years ago.

The exhibition will then focus on two types of mammoth: the Columbian mammoth and its distant cousin, the Woolly mammoth.

Reaching 4 metres in height and 10 tonnes in weight, the Columbian was much the larger of the two. It roamed the parkland of North America and despite its somewhat

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Velizar Simeonovski illustration © The Field Museum

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As a period of cooling set in and their habitat expanded, Woolly mammoth populations increased. Woolly mammoth remains dating to about 30,000 years ago were found in the Peace River region of northeastern British Columbia, though in Europe they have been uncovered as far south as southern Spain.

Between 23,000 and 17,000 years ago it seems that Woolly and Columbian mammoths may have lived together across southern BC. Remains of both types have been found on the lower Fraser River above Vancouver and on Vancouver Island at several locations around greater Victoria.

This happy accommodation was not to last. A cycle of warmer and colder periods characterized the following millennia 2. The front view of the skeleton of a mastodon.

John Weinstein photograph Š The Field Museum

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and mammoth numbers began to shrink dramatically. By 10,000 years ago most of the mammoths had died out in the area from the Yukon to western Siberia. The last Woolly mammoths survived on Wrangle Island off Siberia until around 3,700 years ago.

Humans were hunting mammoths in the Siberian Arctic by 45,000 years ago and across North and Central America between 14,500 and 12,000 years ago. No evidence of humans hunting mammoths has been found in British Columbia—at least not yet.

You may wonder whether it was human hunting that finally did the mammoths in.

This was probably the case in part, but the fact that mammoths continued to exist and even thrive alongside humans for

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thousands of years suggests that climate played a much bigger role in their demise.

This need to adapt to changing environments forms the final section of the exhibition, in particular the evolution of the dwarf mammoths across the Channel Islands of California and the life of mammoths’ last surviving relatives—the Asian elephant.

The story of mammoths is a global one but as always at the Royal BC Museum, we examine it through the prism of our province. So, opening alongside the exhibition will be a refreshed section of our Natural History gallery. Here the Royal BC Museum’s ground-breaking research on the history of the Ice Age will

be revealed for the very first time, with our much-loved Woolly its magnificent centrepiece. We look forward to welcoming you.

3. As Earth has its periods of change, so must our galleries. Don’t worry, Woolly’s not going anywhere but he will soon be in refreshed surroundings.

CURIOUS

Behind the Scenes of the Chinese Legacy Initiatives

By Nik D. White, Curious Guest Editor

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he latest issue of Curious examines the efforts and experiences of the people working ‘behind the scenes’ of the Chinese Legacy Initiatives. The Chinese Legacy Initiatives are legacy projects flowing from the formal apology made by the government of British Columbia to Chinese Canadians for historical wrongs imposed on them by past provincial governments.

Curious delves into the task of preserving and providing access to the history of Chinese Canadians in BC, including the social, economic and legislative persecution of these brave newcomers. Despite these large scale hardships the contributions of Chinese Canadians are substantial. It was the

tenacity of spirit and the backbreaking labour of these men and women that helped build Canada, including the country’s unification by rail from sea to sea. The determination of these Chinese Canadians exemplifies what it means to be immigrants and pioneers.

Curious seeks to honour the many Chinese Canadian pioneers who overcame diversity by highlighting the work of the individuals tasked with preserving a dark history and contributing to the apology. It features a dynamic collection of articles from the educators, historians, cultural professionals and community leaders who guided and contributed to the Chinese Legacy Initiatives. I hope these articles inspire

you to learn more about Chinese Canadian history and the vast contributions of immigrants to Canada.

Curious is available online as well as on your mobile device via iOS and Android apps. Read the latest issue at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/curious We are proud to make this special issue of Curious available for the first time in both Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

1. Chinese workers on the Canadian Pacific Railway, ca. 1884.

BC Archives D-07548.

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Paper and Bronze Isamu Akino’s Rubbing of Elza Mayhew’s Spirit

By Erik Lambertson, Corporate Communications Manager

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1. Elza Mayhew’s sculpture Spirit in front of the BC Archives building.

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n the middle of the lovely reflecting pond in front of the BC Archives stands a solitary bronze sculpture. Oxidized and weatherworn, at moments it seems to blend into the lush environment like one of the native plants in the garden amphitheatre.

But Spirit by Elza Mayhew demands a careful look and appreciation on its own terms, as a powerful work of art. This is especially true now as the Royal BC Museum has recently acquired a companion artwork that beautifully captures the sculpture’s tactile quality and powerful form in a complementary medium.

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When the ‘new’ Provincial Museum and Provincial Archives opened in 1968, Spirit was one of 28 artworks chosen to embellish the interior, grounds and building itself. Early in the design process it was decided that works by British Columbian artists should be given high profile throughout and that these works should augment the theme of ‘Man and Nature’.

Mayhew (born in Victoria in 1916 and passed away in 2004) was further instructed that her commission should reflect a specific theme—a totemic form.

Interestingly she had already completed a sculpture in 1964 that she thought fit both the master- and sub-themes. This was Spirit, a nine-foot-tall bronze that, like most of her works, attempts to connect the human being with the environment. In her words the architectural quality of her work portrays her concern for people’s dwellings: “the entrances through which people go in and come out, and the apprehension, pleasure or peace that accompany these acts.”

Repeated three-dimensional rectangles throughout the length of Spirit do suggest doorways or portals, which makes it beautifully appropriate for a museum and archives—a welcoming public building that houses cultural treasures and acts as a portal to contemplation, reflection and greater awareness. Additionally, the long, tall form evokes a totem, which is fitting for this institution, graced with so many fine examples of First Nations totems and welcome figures.

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We acquired the rubbing in December 2015 and it has been described as PDP10261 in the BC Archives Collection Search (AtoM).

You can find a link to the description and an attached image at search-bcarchives. royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/rubbing-ofspirit. If you wish to view the rubbing or any other original artwork, please note that access requires an appointment through the BC Archives reference desk (250-387-1952; access@bcarchives.bc.ca).

The Royal BC Museum very recently acquired a work that casts new light on Spirit and is fascinating in its own right—a charcoal rubbing, on Japanese paper, of the front side of Spirit. Created around 1970, the nine-foot-long rubbing was made by Japanese artist Isamu Akino.

You can find more information about Spirit at elzamayhew.com/spirit

Akino overlaid and pressed together multiple pieces of paper for the rubbing; the seams are only visible up close. Although a paper work, the rubbing is surprisingly three-dimensional: the paper rises and falls, following the edges and contours of Spirit like a detailed model of an intricate landscape. Fine filaments of paper are clearly visible, which also amplifies the work’s textural quality. Both Akino and Mayhew signed the rubbing, identifying the final product as a co-creation: ‘impressit Isamu’ and ‘Mayhew sculpsit’.

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3. Elza on ladder in Victoria studio.

We know little about Akino himself, who was born in 1935. After dropping out of the sculpture program at the prestigious Tokyo University, Akino travelled to Nepal, India, Russia, Europe, Morocco, Mexico, the United States and Canada—and here to Victoria, where he collaborated with Mayhew on this rubbing. Akino passed away in 2011.

The rubbing is a wonderful donation from Elza Mayhew’s daughter, Anne. Like many descendants of artists, Anne Mayhew is tremendously engaged and interested in the welfare and long-term care of her mother’s artwork. We appreciate this gift

for many reasons, not the least of which is how it casts new light upon Spirit, a potent sculpture that has matured alongside the Royal BC Museum.

Photo credit © Ken McAllister

2. Rubbing of Spirit by Isamu Akino.

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Creating a Safe Haven

By Professor Jack Lohman CBE , Chief Executive Officer

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n November 2015, Professor Jack Lohman was invited to attend a meeting of experts at UNESCO in Paris to discuss creating a safe haven for museum objects caught up in war or natural disasters. Here is what he said: As UNESCO celebrates its astonishing 70th anniversary in 2015—and that is real cause for celebration—our understanding of what constitutes heritage is changing. Enlarging, perhaps. Certainly advancing. The interest in intangible heritage, for example, is a growing area that shows our models are becoming more sophisticated. Festivals, ritual, song, street performance and dance: it is the ease with which people can now record such events that has encouraged us to see them afresh. The recent tendency to film and photograph has arisen largely to show that one was there. But rapid dissemination of such experiences globally—not just to friends but to anyone who wants to watch—has encouraged us to value them as artifacts, as heritage worth not just recording, but preserving. It’s a good instance of cultural practice showing the way for museums and other heritage bodies and reminds us that we need to be alert to social change.

Such access to world heritage fosters understanding. In terms of UNESCO’s focus today, culture is one important strand in making sense of globalization and promoting certainty, stability and connectedness. Given recent events, the world so often seems fractured and torn by horrific nightmares. We understand threats more quickly than we round up solutions. Understandably, culture is rarely the flagship response. There are urgent needs and action must be taken. But culture is, by its very nature, a quiet connector—bringing people together, encouraging generosity,

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widening perspectives. And it endures more profoundly than almost anything, more profoundly than we can measure.

Just what form that cultural access takes is variable. We tend to ‘place’ culture, I would argue, however elaborate our thinking. Culture is, in essence, something rooted in place: a landscape, a city, a civilization. We think of cultural sites because they seem the most obvious way to make sense of the fragmented past or the changing present.

And if culture is so placed, then we are quick to imagine cultural artifacts away from those sites as displaced. It is a paradox that for all our interest in the otherness of cultures, we tend to see them as having homes: a place where they belong, a unifying locale. It is this that troubles us when we find our own culture abroad or in proposing to temporarily displace artifacts. Culture has its place of origin or, as museums are so often seen, its place of preservation. But the further away such institutions are, the more uncomfortable we become.

But is temporary displacement such a bad thing? We live in a world where people travel more and more, where we displace ourselves happily and haphazardly.

I want to sidestep the question: is it a good thing, or a bad thing? There are cases for both sides. The question I want to explore today is: does cultural movement in connection with a safe haven provide a wider methodology?

Dispersal has often meant the preservation of what was otherwise lost. Dispersal affords more varied contexts: for peoples, materials, techniques, ritual and symbol. It is particularly true for the First Nations of Canada that what might properly have been allowed to severely

decay and disappear has, in its far-flung preservation, allowed us access to a past that would have vanished. Through them we can recapture what was evanescent in the living culture but risked disappearance forever, once that living culture was all but destroyed. What was intended to be lost finds a new virtue in being found.

I take up dispersal because I’m interested in what we might do with it. I’m interested in providing a safe haven for museum objects caught up in war.

So often our response to artifacts abroad is a reflection of the troubled past. We’re uneasy about making strong cultural statements now and instead often react to the tricky legacy of who owns what.

But if objects travelled once, then it seems to me they could travel again. When the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo was first being planned the thought was to bring together every single ancient Egyptian artifact in the world. The museum would be a kind of universal record, digital and otherwise, of all that survived of Egyptian culture. Such a simple common sense idea. Yet how ambitious it strikes us. That scale of thinking is what I’d like us to start applying to all museum work.

Think of the prospects of a cultural circuit, of reuniting objects, of changing the sets like those of a theatre for each new act. If history is our shared past then we have a duty to

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share its riches with everyone. I’d love to see a system in which all Canadian objects were seen everywhere: abroad certainly, at home definitely.

My vision ultimately is of a cultural reunion. Not mired in possession or a retreat into definitions of home. But of the world’s cultures moving globally. Interacting. Recombining. How exciting museum collections become if we open them up to all that can be joined with them.

Such a reunion is, of course, highly symbolic.

UNESCO was founded to build peace on the basis of humanity’s moral and intellectual solidarity. Gathering objects is very much a way of gathering people. It is familiar territory in the museum sector. Ambitions for greater community are grounded in how we work and how museums are designed. Architect Frank Gehry, for instance, sees embedded in his design for the Art Gallery of Ontario “the necessity of striving for a shared sense of community—for cooperation and tolerance.”

And it is here, I would argue, where Canada could lead the way.

Former Governor General Madame Adrienne Clarkson tells a wonderful story about her response to that most Canadian of books, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud 12

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Montgomery. She finds in the young Anne a deeply felt analogue to her own experience as an immigrant to Canada. Clarkson writes: Being orphaned or losing a parent, which is such a Montgomery theme, was correlated in my mind to my experience as a refugee, arriving in Canada with my parents and one suitcase each. So when Anne is found by Matthew on the railway siding, sitting on her suitcase, to me that wasn’t a fictional situation. That was my situation. And Matthew and Marilla were like the safe haven that Canada was for me . . .

If that isn’t a metaphor for Canada as a country that receives immigrants, I don’t know what is.

A ‘safe haven’ is precisely what Canada is.

Perhaps it is the long history of cooperation our demanding climate has imposed.

Perhaps it is the vastness of the landscape.

Something has made Canada a place of mutual endeavour, of looking out for one another, of welcome.

The new government in Canada is working hard to bring 25,000 refugees from Syria —and offering a safe haven for objects complements this.

If this creates a place of refuge (as Madame Clarkson herself found as both refugee and reader); then we might consider our role as a

safe haven not just for people, but for objects.

I spoke earlier of the dispersal of culture as an opportunity for us to rethink how we use artifacts and how they move. But there are less benign, more political circumstances we must also consider.

Look at the destruction of cultural sites in countries such as Iraq and Syria. Might Canada not have a role in acting to preserve some of this irreplaceable heritage? It is world heritage. It is the history of everyone and a reminder that we must not narrow our focus to what lies within our own borders. Charities such as Médecins sans Frontières are effective on the international stage because they do precisely that—they look beyond borders. So why not culture without borders?

What I’m proposing is not a metaphor. I am arguing that culture can support urgent political action. Canada is well placed to store rare artifacts securely. Damaged pieces could be conserved. Work could be done on long-term restoration. If we despair at the blowing up of Buddhist reliefs, why not offer a safe haven? Culture moves so readily today, so surely we can adapt that ease of movement to preserve precious artifacts at risk in time of war.

If this sounds like something we’ve never done before, it’s not. There’s a significant precedent in Canada’s own history. One of the remarkable stories of Canada’s cultural leadership on the world stage occurred in the Second World War. During Poland’s occupation by Germany a group of about 300 Polish National Treasures were shipped from Poland to Canada for safe storage. They were an amazing array of irreplaceable things: a jewelled sword used to crown Polish kings since 1320; Flemish tapestries; a Gutenberg Bible; a painting by Cranach; a gold tea set; seven saddles; a fistful of original manuscripts

by Frédéric Chopin. After a circuitous journey they reached Canada safely and were moved to various locations in Ontario and Quebec.

Some ended up in the vaults of the Bank of Montreal. You can’t get much safer than that.

As a Pole in Canada, I love this story. The support for culture. The wider political sympathy at a time of terrible need. The willingness to act. The Polish National Treasures were preserved and eventually returned, thanks to Canada’s involvement.

I have spoken so far about the prospect of creating safe havens for objects at risk. If our history as a world is everywhere, then we should be willing to move cultural treasures around the globe. We need to find ways to draw on the strengths of new connections and global paths to create a better world for all of us. We need to think less about ownership and more about protection. We need to move beyond the age of the frontier.

When I posed this question to colleagues in Canada earlier this year, I was initially met with the response that it is perhaps best left to others. The Smithsonian, perhaps.

Or maybe Germany. I don’t know whether to applaud the modesty or shake my head in despair. Is it a question of confidence?

Canadian museums have so many strengths: a good focus on the visitor experience, a sense of belonging to their communities. But as I retorted then, we need to wake up politically and intellectually. Our programs, our practices and our research need to move out of the

wings and onto the world stage. We need to dig deeper and we need to connect our stories to a global agenda. To make that possible we need to fundraise ambitiously and propose bigger, more widely connected projects. The lament that there is no money is self-fulfilling.

I watch museums trumped time and again by universities and other institutes, not because the others are better but because they are much better at attracting significant research and project funding. That should change because museums have so much to offer that is unique, from the richness of their archives and collections to their potential as advisory bodies on science policy or environmental protocols. At present we are under-using museum expertise.

and coexistence with the First Nations, the Métis, the Inuit. The findings of the Truth and Reconciliation process look likewise to insist on a revaluation of what it means to be Canadian, not by way of apology or reward but in terms of really seeing who we are. It’s only then that we can advance.

That confidence in the cultural sector is growing. The new Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg is an ambitious gesture to design a museum of ideas. Unlike Canada’s other national museums, its starting point was not a collection of objects. Does it work? Its architecture is impressive; its content is understandably contested. It needs time, but it will grow and I’m pleased that as a country we have had the confidence to build such a museum. We might also look to the early recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Many of these speak to the nature of cultural records. If we are to understand where we are now as a country, we need to rethink how we define our heritage and our role in culture.

The British Columbia poet Susan Musgrave captures this sense of welcome in Canada beautifully. She writes:

A key thinker in this regard is John Ralston Saul. In his book A Fair Country: Telling Truths about Canada, Saul writes:

It’s not a question of reinventing the past but of reinvesting it. And having the courage to move forward and play a greater cultural role in the world.

If there is one thing we have in Canada, it is room to manoeuvre. Look at the fraught history of Europe or the Middle East. Just thinking about Canada is a relief, let alone being here.

I seem to have been travelling forever . . .

I saw the new moon holding the old moon in her arms, I wanted to be held and to hold you like this.

In this poem Canada is the new world embracing the old. It is a place of welcome, where those who seem to have been travelling forever can settle at last and where a refugee from Hong Kong can end up as Canada’s Head of State. It is a place of capacity: not empty space, but a rich potential for care. This is the place that might reunite the dispersed.

This is the land where a safe haven can be provided—for people and for culture.

Either we stumble on, ever more frustrated that our society doesn’t function as it should, or we start to rethink our history, to re-examine it . . . I am not talking about a passive projection of our past, but rather about all of us learning how to imagine ourselves differently.

For Saul, such a rediscovery entails understanding how much of Canadian identity is shaped by its long cooperation

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Sawdust and Sticky Notes Reimagining the Logging Diorama

By Erik Lambertson, Corporate Communications Manager and Janet MacDonald, Head of Learning

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ike all the exhibits in the Royal BC Museum’s permanent galleries, the Logging Exhibit boasts plenty of historically accurate and evocative detail: planks of timber that beg to be touched, descriptive text that provides fascinating background info, tools that look as though they were dropped 10 minutes ago when the crew decided to take a quick coffee break.

What’s missing is any mention of an entire group of people who were pioneers in British Columbia’s logging industry and—given the Douglas fir-sized importance of timber in our province’s development—helped shape modern BC. The Indo Canadian community has deep roots in British Columbia’s forestry industry as workers and logging company owners but this exhibit doesn’t mention their existence.

However, the Royal BC Museum takes its responsibility to accurately depict BC history with great seriousness and does its best to update old exhibits. Sometime this means opening ourselves up to a little scrutiny.

So, on November 21, 2015, the Royal BC Museum invited the Indo Canadian community from the Lower Mainland, the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island to stage an ‘intervention’ in the Logging Exhibit. The idea was for participants to reframe the historical record by including their stories and perspectives.

More than 100 participants, from teens to seniors, walked through the Logging Exhibit, examined the display and talked with Royal BC Museum staff and each other. Some of the most meaningful interactions took place within families 14

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as youth expressed appreciation for their elders’ stories, thirsty for more history they could claim as their own.

Organized by the Royal BC Museum, the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley and the David Lam Centre at Simon Fraser University, the intervention included multimedia stories told by community members and discussions at ‘conversation tables’ about what the exhibit might look like—and what messages it might convey—in the future. Armed with sticky notes and challenged to provide the museum with candid observations, participants had plenty to say.

Participants talked about many issues and diverse themes ranging from discrimination

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to the food eaten at sawmills, from the role played by Chinese corner stores to the need to tell women’s stories better, from sacrifices made during the Great Depression to the importance of talking about the Panama Maru incident.

Staging the event in the museum was a powerful symbolic act for the Indo Canadian community. It conspicuously and publicly marked what many community members hope is the beginning of a committed long-term relationship and a defining moment in the provincial correction of past wrongs.

Inviting diverse cultural groups to help revise decades-old museum content is not a new concept for the Royal BC Museum, which successfully partnered with the

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First Peoples’ Cultural Council to develop and create the award-winning feature exhibition Our Living Languages: First Peoples’ Voices in BC in 2014.

The Royal BC Museum has supported other BC government initiatives to correct the historical record, recently developing school outreach kits, website articles and other materials to commemorate the Chinese Historical Wrongs.

The Royal BC Museum also sees interventions in its permanent galleries as a dynamic, hands-on way to engage with students. In late 2015, students from a class at Lansdowne Middle School were invited to walk through the

streets and storefronts in the Old Town Exhibit and pose tough questions about what they were seeing—and what was omitted—from the depiction of life in that era.

So many sticky notes festooned the walls that a visitor later wrote on a local social media site that he’d stumbled upon the work of a vandal (albeit a surprisingly respectful vandal who carefully applied non-marking sticky notes). We set the record straight online—we’re inviting this kind of commentary to help tell BC’s stories more accurately. In future years you’ll be sure to see plenty more of this kind of engaged interaction in our permanent galleries.

1. Rajinder Singh Gill and Mr. Gurmail Singh Judge of the Indo Canadian community examining a temporary photographic addition with Satwinder Kaur Bains, Director of the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies and Associate Professor at the University of the Fraser Valley.

2. A facilitated session during the intervention, examining Indo Canadian community perspectives about food traditions.

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Building Resources Working in Partnership to Create a Seniors Outreach Kit

By Kim Gough, Learning Program Developer

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cross the province there is a lack of resources for recreational programs for seniors in residential care facilities.

Such resources need to offer variety, be multiculturally appropriate, provide group and individual interactions and be of reasonable cost to use.

In response to that need, the Learning Department at the Royal BC Museum is working with seniors at the Glenshiel Independent Living facility in Victoria to develop resources that can help caregivers across the province provide meaningful activities that support life-long learning, sociability, sharing and memory building.

In April of 2015 a group of six residents and a volunteer from the Glenshiel attended our first meeting at the museum. After a quick meet-and-greet we headed up into the Fannin Tower where the collection manager gave us a tour of the history collection.

In a small adjacent room we had set out a number of objects from our handling collection. Each member of the group chose an object that resonated with them and we brought those objects back down to our classroom and shared our memories and thoughts about how they were used or how they might be used. The room was buzzing with conversation, questions and ideas.

Since that initial meeting the group has had a few new members join, and a few step away.

What has remained constant is that when we get together we use objects to spark conversations and jumpstart memories.

There are two important results from these meetings. One will be a travelling kit 16

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with ‘senior approved’ themes, objects and activities. Facilities who borrow the kit will be able to use the materials in a number of ways, depending on their residents’ needs. The other important result is that we have built a special relationship of trust and friendship with this group of advisors that will continue to shape our programs and resources.

1. Glenshiel residents visited behind the scenes and chose objects from our handling session that most resonated with them for a discussion.

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Our annual campaign this year supports our Learning Department.

By contributing to our annual fund you help address the lack of resources for seniors’ programs, which provide lifelong learning and memory-building opportunities that can benefit seniors all across the province.

To make a contribution today, contact us at 250-387-7222 or donate@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca

Celebrating Fossils in the News

By Marji Johns, Collections Manager and Researcher, Paleontology

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uring the last five years, staff and volunteer researchers, students and collection assistants have significantly advanced the paleontology collections at the Royal BC Museum. Not only have there been thousands of specimens donated, prepared and catalogued but a culmination of recent research resulted in numerous press releases and publications in 2015, rapidly spreading news about new fossil species across North America, Asia and Europe.

The excitement started with the arrival of a fossil tapir jaw of cf. Heptodon. It and another new mammal species, a hedgehog (Silvacola acares), lived in a rainforest near a northern British Columbia lake during the early Eocene about 50–53 million years ago (Ma), at the height of global warming. The fossils were found in Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park and studied by a team from the University of Colorado, Canadian Museum of Nature and Brandon University.

Our first publication in 2015 was by University of Victoria student Carl Jonsson and Royal BC Museum Curator of Botany and Earth History Dr. Richard Hebda. Three Late Cretaceous fossil plant assemblages were documented from Saanich Peninsula sites near Victoria, These floras were restricted to the area and a new North American flora region was recognized.

In August a paper on offshore microfossils, geology and strontium isotope dating techniques by my colleagues from the universities of Victoria and Western Australia and I received an editor’s choice award. In this study, foraminifers (microfossils) were used to determine depositional environments and sea level changes. Strontium isotope ages obtained from their shells provided geological age constraints.

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A second August publication presented results from an evolutionary and paleobiogeographical study by colleagues in California who named five new species of Late Cretaceous ornate gastropods (snails) of the genus Tessarolax. Two were from the Nanaimo area and named after Royal BC Museum researchers Raymond Graham and Timon Bullard who discovered, collected and donated the specimens to our collections.

Research Associate Tom Cockburn and fossil vertebrate expert Brian Beatty from New York highlighted the late Oligocene mammal Behemotops cf. B. proteus in our third August paper. The now-extinct mammal was a hippo-like sea cow that lived along western Vancouver Island shorelines and primarily fed on sea grasses.

Fall 2015 got even better, with a Royal BC Museum press release about the summer publications and the launch of the next season of This Week in History (TWIH), with CHEK TV host Veronica Cooper. TWIH is introducing the paleontology collections as a lead-up to our June 2016 Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age exhibition. First up—“Fossils and Gold”, an episode about local fossils, geology and the gold rush from Sombrio Beach to Leechtown. Then we were off on a public field trip led by Dr. Hebda to Island View Beach to learn about the Ice Age, mammoths and invertebrate fossils. It was here that a rare fossil snail was found and donated to the collections.

1. New to our type collections, this 50–53 million-year-old giant fossil horntail wasp, Ypresiosirex orthosemos, is about 6.8 cm long.

royalbcmuseum.bc.ca 17

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On National Fossil day (October 14) TWIH shone with Research Associate Dr. Bruce Archibald of Simon Fraser University.

He spoke about new insects and other species that lived near ancient lakes in the BC interior about 50–53 Ma—a time of mountain uplift, volcanoes and hot climate.

Insights into ancient life and environments at that time help us to better understand warming conditions today. Shortly after this episode aired, Bruce’s publication revealed a new large (6.8 cm) fossil horntail wasp, Ypresiosirex orthosemos, from the recently established McAbee Fossil Beds Heritage site near Cache Creek. Our Communications Department led the press coverage, spreading the news across North America.

TWIH’s “Dazzled by Ammonites” highlighted our biggest collection of ~30,000 fossils, which are being studied

by University of Victoria students Sandy McLachlan and Misha Whittingham. Both students—captivated by Late Cretaceous ammonites (squid-like mollusks with a shell) from Vancouver and Hornby islands—are describing new fossil species. They spent many hours working in the collections, preparing specimens and identifying fossils for their research degree programs.

Mentoring this work is Research Associate Dr. Jim Haggart of the Geological Survey of Canada, Vancouver, who has several publications underway. Their work will advance knowledge about geology and fossil distributions during the Late Cretaceous.

Just when you think there could not possibly be more, Research Associate Gary Kaiser and student Carl Jonsson co-authored a paper with colleagues in Europe on “Exploring the relationship between skeletal mass and total body mass of birds”.

Excitement continued, actually dating back to the 2013 discovery of fossil bird bones near Sooke, BC by Steve Suntok and his family. Kaiser’s research with Junya

Watanabe of Japan’s Kyoto University and me led to naming a new genus and species of penguin-like bird, Stemec suntokum.

The research, published in November, was also presented as a poster by Junya at a paleontology meeting in Japan in early 2016. The Royal BC Museum press release spread globally and illustrated the distinctive fossil bone, a coracoid and a watercolour rendition I painted of the bird diving in the ocean off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

The year ended with TWIH episodes on Triassic fishes, mammoth teeth and Triassic coelacanths. Look for these early in 2016 and on royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/rbcmchannel/this-week-in-history/. A big thanks to an amazing team of volunteers and research colleagues, CHEK TV and Royal BC Museum staff—our successes are all thanks to you.

2. Tessarolax grahami is a new Cretaceous snail named after its discoverer Raymond Graham.

3. Fossil tapir jaw of cf. Heptodon.

4. Coracoid bone of a new genus and species of penguin-like bird, Stemec suntokum.

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COMING SOON

This Week in History

By Veronica Cooper, CHEK News Feature Reporter

I

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have had many remarkable experiences in my 30-year career at CHEK and This Week in History is definitely among them.

and volunteers who ensure the artifacts,

Now wrapping up its fourth season on CHEK News at 5, each two-minute Saturday feature offers viewers a fascinating story connected to the history of British Columbia. The incredibly varied topics allow one to not only learn more about BC but to gain insight and understanding into what happens behind the scenes at the Royal BC Museum and Archives.

safeguarded for the future, and shared with

I believe that what really brings these stories to life are the animated interviews with some of the museum’s brilliant staff

1. Japanese Tea Garden on the Gorge Waterway. Featured in This Week in History, Season Four, episode 12.

documents and specimens of British Columbia’s natural and human history are the world.

Highlights from Season Four include the history of the Gorge Waterway’s Japanese Garden and Victoria’s Sunshine Baby Hotel.

To watch and share these and many more fascinating stories, visit royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/twih

GOING DIGITAL

The Learning Portal

By Aidan Moher, Web Specialist & Content Developer

T

he Royal BC Museum’s Learning Portal launched in 2015 as the perfect

companion to our rich collections and exhibitions. Full of pathways, media galleries and even a timeline that reaches back to the Precambrian Eon, the Learning Portal encourages learners of all ages to explore British Columbia’s history at their own pace and from the comfort of home, school or even the bus (thanks to its mobile-friendly design). With a digital-first approach, the Learning Portal is accessible all across BC—no road trip required.

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Last autumn saw the debut of ‘playlists’, which are mix tape-style collections of Learning Portal content that highlight BC’s natural and human history. Since everything is more fun when you collaborate—anyone can create a playlist.

Those with a unique story can apply to become a ‘co-creator’ and work directly with our Learning team to craft the perfect one-of-a-kind playlist.

Visit the Learning Portal at learning.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca

Our Learning Portal brings the Royal British Columbia Museum and Archives to the digital age of the 21st century. Your support helps us connect learners to our collections and research, and enables us to support school curriculums in classrooms all across British Columbia.

To make a contribution today, contact us at 250-387-7222 or donate@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca.

WHERE ICE FREEZES FLESH IN A FLASH… ГДЕ ЛЕД ЗАМОРАЖИВАЕТ ПЛОТЬ В МГНОВЕНИЕ ОКА...

A LITTLE WOOL AND A WHOLE LOT OF LUCK HELP UNLOCK HISTORY’S SECRETS. LY UB A , M A MMU T HU S P RIMIGE NIU S . C L A S S IF I C A T ION : C L A S S M A MM A L S , P ROBO S C IDE A S Q U A D, M A MMO T H. C A T E GOR Y : E X T IN C T S P E C IE S . F ROM : T HE S HE M A NO V S K Y MU S E UM A ND E X HIBI T ION C OMP L E X IN S A L E K H A RD, YA M A L- NE NE T S A U T ONOMOU S DI S T RI C T, RU S S I A N F E DE R A T ION. L E DGE ND : ON M AY 15, 2007 T HE RE M A IN S OF A M A MMO T H W E RE DI S C O V E RE D B Y Y URI K HUDI IN RU S S I A’ S A R C T I C YA M A L P E NIN S UL A ON T HE Y URIBE Y RI V E R (COORDINATES 68º 38 ‘N; 71º 40’ E); ON MAY 25, 2007 THE REMAINS WERE DELIVERED TO THE SHEMANOVSK Y MUSEUM.

From Make to Show Activating Kids’ Creativity and Supporting a Culture of Sharing

By Chris O’Connor, Family and Schools Program Producer

T

hey say that a museum is a place for stories. That’s true, though sometimes not as explicitly as we might like. Having an object on display, especially in a museum context, definitely implies there is a compelling history/backstory connected to it. But as my colleague Dr. Martha Black reminds me, objects don’t tell stories, people do. So this past fall we invited some of our smallest visitors to create stories with us. And boy did they step up.

Both our Kids’ Club kids and Home Learners (ages 6–11) spent time exploring the galleries, teasing out some of the most compelling points of inspiration for their writing projects. They were encouraged to

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look closely at the displays and imagine the stories behind them. The Home Learners were guided by the Story Studio Writing Society, and the Kids’ Club kids were guided by Learning staff interpreters.

working alongside kids rather than talking at them. We take kids’ ideas seriously and want to be champions for their place at the museum table. Yes, even adding a story or two of theirs to the mix.

What made this especially exciting was that both writing teams were able to share their stories during our all-ages evening event—Early Shift. Their stories were put up on the gallery walls, recited by actors and even performed by musicians.

In this way they were able to share their writing projects and their learning with hundreds of visitors. This act of co-creation with kids is really important to us in the Learning department. We advocate

To see some of the stories, visit our Learning Portal at learning. royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/playlist/ home-learners-writing-program/ 1. Facilitated story creation area guided

by Kids’ Club kids for Early Shift.

Honest Food 10 Principles for Sustainable and Equitable Food Systems in a Time of Climate Change

By Dr. Richard J. Hebda, Curator of Botany and Earth History

T

he media is full of concerns about food these days; droughts and starvation in Asia and Africa, rising food prices in North America, ecologically sustainable food globally and the importance of food diversity to human health. All these challenges are becoming more acute as our global climates continue to change.

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Our museum and archives hold and present many British Columbia artifacts and food stories.

• First Nations foods are enticingly displayed in our First Peoples gallery where you can visually appreciate delicious ‘intertidal gatherings’; • our Modern History gallery presents a realistic early 1900s kitchen complete with the aroma of cherry pie just out of the oven; • the Peace River Tremblay farmstead from 1912 hints at how tough it was to raise food, to the delightful sound of clucking chickens; • the colourful stack of seafood tins next to the Britannia Fish Cannery line sadly recalls food ways lost and natural food resources now in serious decline; • museum publications include an excellent series of food-related books such as the recent Saanich Ethnobotany by me and Nancy Turner; and • our herbarium holds specimens of many excellent native food plants and some include notes on their use.

1. Intertidal gathering: First Peoples gallery.

royalbcmuseum.bc.ca 23

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Over the past few years I have encountered many people concerned with sustainable food—including research associate Sharon Rempel, Canadian heritage seed pioneer and founder of Seedy Saturdays, and Gretchen Bauta, one of our generous donors who established Canada’s Bauta Seed initiative to conserve diverse heritage food varieties. In my work teaching for the Restoration of Natural Systems program at the University of Victoria, the importance of raising food that does not harm the environment is a key message. Out of these interactions and my own practice of growing food have emerged some ideas about what sustainable food is. In November 2015 I was invited to present these concepts at a national climate change forum in Ottawa. The symposium theme was ‘Food Security in a Changing Climate’. I proposed a set of Honest Food principles to guide our thinking into an uncertain future in which sustainable food will be a ‘must’ and not just a desirable option.

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These principles extend beyond the laudable objectives of organic food initiatives to recognizing the role of our food systems in supporting biological diversity, ensuring fair return to food growers and to reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The complexity of our food system makes it all the more critical that we make food decisions guided by a set of principles that are universal in their moral and ecological goals. Honest Food aims to contribute to improving the condition of human society and of the global ecosystem, while mitigating and adapting to stresses such as climate change.

Our museum tells many stories about food in the past, rich resources now depleted, sustainable and honest lifeways, and it points to future opportunities. It is my hope that communities and organizations large and small, local and international, embrace these principles and apply them in the practice of achieving a safer, more

sustainable food system. As we consider applying these ideas to our food choices we must share our successes and failures with others—we have no time to lose.

2. Skeena Cannery: Becoming BC gallery.

By financially supporting the Royal BC Museum, you help us share crucial learning from our past in order to help create a better future. Honest Food is one example of how we can work together to improve the condition of human society in a time of climate change.

To make a contribution today, contact us at 250-387-7222 or donate@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca

10 Principles for People and Planet Food production faces increasing challenges as our climate changes. Agriculture produces greenhouse gases, yet it provides opportunities to reduce climate change. I offer the following guiding principles for evaluating our food systems from ecological, economic and social perspectives.

1. ENSURES RELIABLE AND AFFORDABLE FOOD FOR ALL Provides food security: “all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” (World Food Summit 1996) 2. MITIGATES AND ADAPTS TO CLIMATE CHANGE Reduces greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural production, puts carbon back into the soil.

Develops climate-resilient food systems.

3. SUSTAINS ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY Avoids harm to ecosystems.

Contributes to water quality, soil formation and ecological processes.

4. SUSTAINS THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE Supports biological diversity of crop varieties.

Practices food production in biodiverse landscapes.

5. CONTRIBUTES TO HUMAN COMMUNITIES Conserves and shares traditional and local agro-ecological practices.

Fosters local adaptation and resilience.

6. RESPECTS AND REWARDS GROWERS Recognizes key role of the food producer through fair economic and social returns and sustainable livelihoods.

8. BUILDS STABLE ECONOMIES Creates sustainable economic structures that include principles of fair trade throughout the production and distribution system.

9. MEETS MEASURABLE AND OBJECTIVE STANDARDS Tracks and reports on progress toward practical outcomes using rigorous protocols.

10.

INCORPORATES PUBLIC EDUCATION AND AWARENESS Encourages the sharing of practical knowledge across all regions and cultures.

7. IMPROVES PEOPLE’S HEALTH Produces healthy, nutritious food and fosters healthy diets.

Reduces exposure to toxins through organic agriculture.

royalbcmuseum.bc.ca 25

On the Road Again…

By Janet MacDonald, Head of Learning

I

n the summer of 2015, the Royal BC Museum launched an innovative provincial outreach program called Species at Risk—a travelling exhibition wrapped in an eye-catching teardrop trailer with student facilitators along for the ride. In collaboration with schools, museums, nature and Aboriginal centres in the Lower Mainland and across the Okanagan region, the students delivered a series of multi-dimensional programs that integrated our province’s natural environment and the threats to its ecological balance.

The program’s overwhelming success affirmed our original intent of extending our research and expertise in meaningful and relevant ways and increasing our reach across the province. When the dust settled at the end of the road we tallied up our connections—over 3,500 BC citizens of all ages engaged; 15 towns, 14 cultural organizations and four schools visited.

What a great start!

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cultural hub for day camps or public events.

The beauty of this traveller is its versatility and flexibility. It is engaging, creative, innovative, empowering and a model for future collaboration and co-curation across the province.

Building partnerships is paramount to any organization’s success. For the second year in a row, the Royal BC Museum and the Robert Bateman Centre are co-developing a strategy wherein each organization supports and contributes to Species at Risk for our mutual benefit. Together we financially support two students through joint applications to the Canadian Museums Association’s Young Canada Works (YCW) program—the first collaborative initiative of its kind in Canada, under the YCW umbrella.

Each student co-develops content and becomes an excellent representative for both institutions. After a successful first year we look forward to continuing and building on this ground-breaking collaboration.

…just can’t wait to get on the road again…

1. Our Species at Risk trailer and interpreters teaming up with Penticton Museum’s Wild at Heart camp.

2. The ‘mini-museum’ outreach boxes feature species at risk specimens from the Royal BC Museum’s collection along with a suite of relevant creative activities such as animation and comic book making sessions, themed puzzles and games.

This year the travelling road show will wheel its way across the Lower Mainland into the Okanagan region and on to its new destination—the Kootenays. The trailer will spend weekdays stationed at a central

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oyal BC Museum’s collections ely, to answer important estions, ranging from Partnership axonomy and systematics Profile ty, species at risk, invasive climate change.

 Fernie Museum  Gallery2 Grand Forks  Glenbow Museum  Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site  Haida Gwaii Museum  Hope Visitor Centre and Museum Complex  HR MacMillan Space Centre

Tourism Victoria

a pleasure to host visiting . Our collections benefit ly from theTourism shared Victoria and the Royal BC Museum nd knowledge, and asa long history going back over have enjoyed , we broaden our own 30 years.

As the #1 museum in Canada, the Royal But BC Museum is one of the crowning nderstanding. perhaps jewels of Greater Victoria’s tourism industry. antly, this is what the are for – toMuseum share,staff to study, are always gracious hosts ely, to learn more about the brings journalists, when Tourism Victoria d. meeting planners and tour operators to

the region to promote the destination worldwide. In turn, Tourism Victoria works to drive more customers to the museum menev and Natalya ticket sales at the Visitor Centre and the Royal BCthrough Museum’s earned ion microscope and media stories throughout the year.

software to examine and Another example of our partnership is ails of a deep-sea clam.

the Aboriginal Cultural Festival that is going into its third successful year.

The festival—also in partnership with Aboriginal Tourism BC, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations and others—celebrates National Aboriginal Day weekend with music, dance, food and the arts, all on the grounds of the Royal BC Museum.

 Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre  O’Keefe Historic Ranch  Point Ellice House  Quesnel & District Museum and Archives Society  Quesnel Museum  Revelstoke Museum & Archives  Robert Bateman Centre  Roedde House Museum

Royal Museum Shop Intriguing and Unique

Royal BC Museum members and IMAX season Royal BC Museum members & IMAX season pass holders receive 10% off all purchases.

Use coupon code:holders member receive 10% off all purchases. pass

royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/shop

Use coupon code: member

Your purchases support the Royal BC Museum. royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/shop No Admission Required.

Your purchases Shop hours 10:00 am – 5:00 pm daily Tel 250-356-0505

support the Royal BC Museum.

No Admission Required.

Shop hours 10 – 5 daily Tel 250 356 0505

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1. Victoria’s Inner Harbour.

Photo credit © Tourism Victoria

royalbcmuseum.bc.ca 27

NEW from the Royal British Columbia Museum A

dd another dimension to your Royal BC Museum visit with Highlights—your own personal tour guide and a beautiful companion to our innovative exhibits.

Highlights lets you explore British Columbia’s natural and human history through dazzling photographs and interesting stories about our objects and displays. Who knows, you may even learn a museum secret or two.

Available at the ticket counter and the Royal Museum Shop.

$14.95 ISBN 978-0772-66733-5 For more information on Royal BC Museum publications, visit royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/publications

STAFF PROFILE

The Empire Strikes Back… for Charity

By Kyle Wells, Communications Specialist

T

he Royal BC Museum is staffed by a number of unique, talented and interesting personalities who have a wide variety of hobbies outside of work. One shared hobby includes dressing up as characters from the Star Wars universe.

Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Dr. Gavin Hanke (TK-48367), Exhibition Technician Colin Longpre (TD-6728) and Exhibition Designer Steve Lewis (TI-7615) are all members of the 501st Legion, an all-volunteer, world wide Star Wars costuming club.

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The 501st Legion is represented in British Columbia by the Outer Rim Garrison, which consists of over 50 members located throughout the province.

Despite its villainous associations, the 501st Legion is heavily involved in charity work and is always looking to brighten smiles and bring awareness to positive causes. “Bad guys doing good” is one of the 501st Legion’s mottos.

knowing our presence is actually making a difference in people’s lives is a great feeling,” said Lewis. “Even if it is a bit nerdy!”

Find out more about the 501st Legion at 501st.com and the Outer Rim Garrison at outerrimgarrison.com.

“Seeing kids’ faces, both young and old, light up when we walk in a room, and

2.

1. Royal BC Museum members of the 501st Legion help pack up 2015’s Gold Rush! El Dorado in BC exhibition.

2. Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Dr. Gavin Hanke (TK-48367) (left), Exhibition Designer Steve Lewis (TI-7615) and Exhibition Technician Colin Longpre (TD-6728) are “bad guys doing good” with the 501st Legion.

royalbcmuseum.bc.ca 29

What’s on LECTURES & EVENTS What Can One Person Do When 7.3 Billion are Frying the Planet?

Presented by artist/activator Franke James April 22 | 7:00 – 10:00 pm $25 per person Music and Active Art-Making Enjoy local music of all genres while trying your hand at public art-making with a message.

April 23 | 1:00 – 4:00 pm Free | Clifford Carl Hall Franke James Hands-On Green Conscience Workshop Expand your mind and learn techniques from a creative genius who understands fun.

April 23 | 1:30 – 4:30 pm $40 per person, all art materials provided Aloha Culture and Earth Wisdom in Music, Dance and Word Workshop Facilitated by Puna Kalama Dawson April 23 | 3:00 – 4:30 pm $15 per person Have We Got a Story to Tell: Into the Wild Our popular storytelling event series, inspired

by The Moth Radio Hour.

April 23 I 7:00 – 9:00 pm $12 per person Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Series Learn skills like mending clothing and building simple shelters.

Clothing April 13 | 5:00 – 7:00 pm Shelter May 11 | 5:00 – 7:00 pm $35 adults, $31.50 youth, per workshop Coastal Sound Youth Choir and Jeunes Chantures d’ Acadie May 5 I 11:30 am – 12:00 pm and 1:00 – 1:30 pm Free I Clifford Carl Hall South Vancouver Island Regional Heritage Fair May 6 I 10:00 am – 2:00 pm Free I Clifford Carl Hall

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For a full listing of what’s happening at the Royal BC Museum, view our calendar online at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/calendar MUSEUM HOURS: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm daily Astronomy Day May 14 I 10:00 am – 4:00 pm Free I Clifford Carl Hall Booksmack at the Royal BC Museum May 18 | 7:00 – 8:30 pm Free I Clifford Carl Hall Aboriginal Cultural Festival June 17, 18, 19 Royal BC Museum precinct I Free Traditional Tlingit Tattoo Revival June 18 I 7:00 – 8:30 pm $12 per person I Newcombe Conference Hall

LIVE@LUNCH SERIES First Wednesday of every month Free | Newcombe Auditorium Peace River Valley: Biodiversity and Conservation Initiatives Presented by Sarah Cox and Royal BC Museum Natural History curatorial and collections staff April 6 I 12:00 – 1:00pm

EXHIBITIONS & INSTALLATIONS Mammoths! Giants of the Ice Age June 3 – December 31, 2016 Our Living Languages: First Peoples’ Voices in BC On now John Lennon’s Rolls Royce On display now until April 29, 2016 | Main Lobby Youth Echoing Truths April 14, 2016 – May 2016 | Light box display in Clifford Carl Hall and various locations within permanent galleries Conservation through Collaboration May – July 2016 | Pocket Gallery Women to Vote in British Columbia April – June 2016 | BC Archives Lobby

Birds and Dinosaurs Presented by research associate Gary Kaiser May 4 I 12:00 – 1:00 pm

FRIENDS OF THE BC ARCHIVES LECTURE SERIES $5 per person or free for Friends of the BC Archives members Newcombe Auditorium Returning French Canadians to Victoria’s and British Columbia’s History Presented by author Jean Barman April 17 I 2:00 pm An Artist of Rare Ability: The life and photographs of C.S. Bailey Presented by David Mattison May 15 I 2:00 pm

DID YOU KNOW? Royal BC Museum members enjoy up to 20% off admission at more than 25 partner attractions. Just flash your membership card to receive your discount!

View the full list of partners at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/reciprocalpartners Information correct at time of printing. Subject to change. Please visit royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/calendar for most up-to-date information. Prices do not include applicable taxes.

Upgrade your Membership Today

By Shaun Cerisano, Philanthropy Manager

Yes, I am pleased to support the important work of the Royal BC Museum.

Please send my charitable tax receipt to: (Please complete in capital letters) NAME ADDRESS

CITY PROVINCE POSTAL CODE

TELEPHONE

EMAIL

NAME FOR DONOR RECOGNITION PURPOSES

1.

Single Gift (cash, cheque or credit card – enter credit card details on reverse side).

My cheque is made payable to Royal BC Museum Foundation, charitable registration number #118933241RR0001

$50

$100

$250

$500

$1000

Other $ ________

Monthly Gift* using my credit card only (enter credit card details on reverse side).

On the

R

ecently I had a chance to sit down with a member who upgraded her regular membership to an Affinity Membership.

Here’s what she had to say: “When renewing my membership last year, it struck me that the Royal BC Museum is a resource I should support in the same way I support other important local causes. Many of my core values are reflected within its walls: curiosity, learning, exploration, understanding our environment, local history and cultural diversity.

I realized that this wonderful place should not be taken for granted and that it is important for me to give back on a larger level. Now, as an Affinity member, I am enjoying the sense of being integral to the future of the museum and archives. I know that the contribution portion of my Affinity membership makes a difference, and I like having a closer connection to the Royal BC Museum. I look forward to the next behind-the-scenes event knowing that, as an Affinity member, I will get to discover something completely new to me. It is a whole new level of excitement!”

—Tracey Mellor, Affinity Guardian Member

If you would like to upgrade your membership and contribute to our work while enjoying the same heightened benefits and excitement as Tracey, please contact me today or visit royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/affinity to view all our levels and benefits.

Shaun Cerisano Philanthropy Manager 250-889-9674 scerisano@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca 1. Tracey Mellor and her family.

$10

1st or $25

15th of each month, I would like to give $50

Other $ ________

All gifts are tax-deductible donations. *You may cancel or change your montly donation at any time by calling 250-387-7222.

Credit Card Details Please charge my Visa

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Thank you for supporting the Royal BC Museum.

Please return this form, along with your donation to: The Royal BC Museum Foundation 675 Belleville Street, Victoria, BC V8W 9W2

Other ways to give. Please contact me about: Legacy Giving.

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I am a Provincial Employee and would like to make a gift through the Provincial Employee Community Services Fund (PECSF).

Royal BC Museum Foundation Privacy Policy The personal information collected on this form is collected under the legal authority of the Societies Act (RSBC 1996, C. 433) and is subject to the personal Information Protection Act (SBC 2003, C. 63). The personal information collected will be used to update/maintain our donor list, issue tax receipts and publicly recognize your donation. Personal information collected will be shared with the Royal BC Museum to provide you with upto date information on current events/exhibitions.

PM42265026

Summer Camps: Mammoths Millions of years ago, giants roamed the earth. Sometimes standing more than 14 feet tall, mammoths and mastodons towered over the lands … and now they’re coming to Victoria. Campers will explore the feature exhibition Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age and the collection areas, build mini-dioramas, dig for fossils and much more.

Secure your spot early, last year’s camps sold out. Before and after care available.

July 11 – 15, 18 – 22, and 25 – 29 August 8 – 12, 22 – 26, and 14 – 18 9:00 am – 4:00 pm Register today at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/camps This exhibition was created by The Field Museum, Chicago.