Museum musings
Museum Musings is a biweekly column appearing in the Rural Roots written by Fred Payton.
Latest articles - Museum Musings
Museum Musings: The Victoria Hospital
As we await the next iteration of the Victoria Hospital, I thought it might be of interest to look back on its origin and...
MUSEUM MUSINGS: Early Prince Albert Newspapers
The Canadian North-West Historical Society once produced what they called ‘Chapters in the North-West History Prior to 1890 : : Related by Old Timers’....
Museum Musings: The first winter carnival
With the 59th Winter Festival heating up this week, I decided to look back on the first such festivities held here in Prince Albert....
Museum Musings: Jimmy Forrest, Prince Albert’s Robbie Burns
Ye Pow’rs, wha mak mankind your care,And dish them out their bill o’ fare,Auld Scotland wants nae skinking wareThat jaups in luggies;But if ye...
Museum musings: Miller’s Hill
Fred PaytonPrince Albert Historical SocietyI wonder how many of the readers of this column will remember Miller’s Hill? Of those who do recognise the...
Museum Musings: A busy week
The offices for the Historical Society are located in the Historical Museum. Some weeks the building is busier than others, especially in the summer....
Museum musings — McLeod Hotel rules
Occasionally, people will come by the Historical Museum and drop off photo albums, scrap books, and assorted similar items. These can be invaluable sources...
Museum MusingsCitizens’ Rehabilitation Committee
The first three years of World War II were dark and terrible. There were times when it looked like the Allies would be unsuccessful...
Museum Musings – North of Prince Albert
During one of the Downtown Food Walking Tours a few years ago, Terra Lennox-Zepp and I were asked about the history of North Prince...
Museum musings: Prince Albert’s breweries
Konrad Wittemann, who opened a brewery in Prince Albert in 1895, is quoted as having written “When we came here there was hardly any...
Lund Wildlife Museum
As the summer season comes to a close, it reminds me about the closure of another museum which once graced the banks of the...
Museum Musings — Act Amateur Hours
I recently received a telephone call from a Melfort resident who reads my Museum Musings column. She told me that back in the mid-1930s,...
PRINCE ALBERT’S PHOTOGRAPHER
On September 4th, 1890, a large crowd of excited people were clustered around what is now Third Avenue West and 17th Street. Amongst the...
Museum Musings: Archie McNeil’s Will
I will admit that one of the pleasures I experience as a researcher in the Bill Smiley Archives is the opportunities presented to review...
MUSEUM MUSINGSSUMMER TIME AT THE MUSEUMS
“What can you tell me,” asked the visitor to the Historical Museum, “about a zoo west of Christopher Lake?” After two years of COVID-19 restrictions,...
Museum Musings: Lt. Col Alexander Sproat
John Weichel, in his 2001 publication “Forgotten Lives”, noted that “One can only ask in dismay how Lt. Col. Alexander Sproat’s life and accomplishments,...
Museum musings: Samuel McLeod
The name Samuel McLeod is arguably one of Prince Albert’s best known names. Prince Albert businesses vie annually for awards presented by the local...
MUSEUM MUSINGSTHE FREDERICK CHARLES BAKER FAMILY
Recently noted in the obituaries of paNOW was the following: “The family of Dr. Frederick William Baker announces his death in Canmore, Alberta on...
Early homes of importance which were demolished
When we were putting together our 2022 calendar for the Historical Museum, we had to make some difficult decisions. Each month in the calendar...
Prince Albert’s first female alderman
From the 1996 YWCA fund raising calendar, called Y’s Emerging Women, for the week of August 3rd to 9th: “Ella Muzzy broke ground for...
Museum Musings: Prince Albert and women’s suffrage
The Bill Smiley Archives receives many different types of requests, but probably the most frequent type is for information about family members. “What can...
MUSEUM MUSINGS: The Hill Grocery
In his book about Prince Albert’s first century, from 1866 to 1966, Gary Abrams writes in the chapter White Coal City about the years...
THE CITY HALL THAT WASN’T (X TWO)
Fred PaytonPrince Albert Historical Society “The prosperity that followed the second World War put increasing pressure on adding to the infrastructure of the City, which...
Museum musings – Prince Albert’s town hall
Prince Albert Historical Society An article in the Fall 2021 issue of Prairie History: The Journal of the West stirred some discussion within the local...
Lucy Margaret Baker
She stood five foot three inches tall, spoke fluent French with a Parisian accent, and loved silk and lace. You likely wouldn’t expect an early...
Museum Musings: Unit Block 10th Street West
My wife recently shared with me an item which had popped up on her social media. A local educator was reflecting on an incident...
2021 – THE YEAR THAT WAS
Museum Musings by Fred Payton - Prince Albert Historical Society As I write this column, we are fast approaching the end of another year. Like many,...
Museum Musings – The National Hotel
By Fred Payton Most people living in Prince Albert and area are familiar with the National Hotel, even if it is just from driving across...
Museum Musings: Did the City of Prince Albert choose the penitentiary over the university?
by Fred PaytonPrince Albert Historical Society Over the summer, I was researching the history of Prince Albert’s river lots. I chanced on an article which...
Museum Musings: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Fred Payton - Prince Albert Historical Society There has been considerable activity for the Prince Albert Historical Society since the big front doors closed denoting...
