Museum Musings: some local election history
by Fred Payton Well, that’s done and dusted. Canada’s 44th General election is in the rear-view mirror. Not that Prince Albert and area has had...
Museum Musings – Prince Albertans on stage and screen
We recently hosted a focus group at the Historical Museum to look at the progress which the City has made over the five years...
Museum Musings – Who Was George Flett?
by Fred PaytonPrince Albert Historical Society Earlier this spring, I listened to a conversation with a visitor to the Historical Museum about the arrival and...
Museum Musings: Treaty 6
by Fred PaytonPrince Albert Historical Society Many local groups and organizations have adopted the tradition of prefacing their agendas, minutes, and meetings by making reference...
Museum Musings – Prince Albert Bands
by Fred PaytonPrince Albert Historical Society My friend Larry from up 2nd Avenue, stopped by to chat about Prince Albert bands. As a youth, he...
Museum Musings – Prince Albert Police Service – further instability in the early years
by Fred Payton In my last column, I discussed the initial instability which plagued the establishment of the Prince Albert Police Service. The citizens of...
Museum Musings: Early Prince Albert Police Service
by Fred PaytonPrince Albert Historical Society After assuming control of the former Rupert’s Land in 1870, the Dominion government was not overly interested in encouraging...
Museum Musings: Central Avenue and 18th Street
by Fred Payton Winter, like the pandemic, just doesn’t seem to want to let go of us. So, I have been trying to take advantage...
Museum Musings: George Will
by Fred Payton My wife’s maternal grandmother used to reminisce about her early days in Prince Albert, when she was a student nurse at the...
Museum Musings – 818 River Street West
by Fred Payton With the coming of the Spring weather, a walk along the banks of the North Saskatchewan River can be very appealing. It had...
Museum Musings: April Fools!
by Fred Payton A week today is April 1st. We all know what that means. It’s the day when you are allowed, even encouraged, to...
Museum Musings – Writers from Prince Albert
For the first eight years of my life, I lived across the back alley from a house which seemed to me at that young...
Museum Musings: Early Prince Albert Fire Department
by Fred Payton If anyone entering the Prince Albert Historical Museum is unaware that the building was originally a fire hall, it shouldn’t take long...
Museum Musings: Prince Albert Street Names
by Fred Payton The term “rabbit hole” is often used at the Historical Museum, especially in the Bill Smiley Archives. Many is the time I...
Museum Musings
by Fred Payton It must have seemed like a good idea at the time when, at the Nov. 30, 1965 meeting of City Council, they...
Museum Musings: My most memorable Christmas
by Fred Payton Given the unique manner in which Christmas had to be celebrated this past December, the Prince Albert Historical Society made the decision...
Museum Musings: Payout of Lacolle Falls mortgage
by Fred Payton Fifty-five years ago today, the City of Prince Albert finally paid off the debt which had been a drain on its growth...
Museum Musings – Chinese Cafes in Prince Albert
Ed. Note: Most early Chinese residents have their roots in the Canadian Pacific Railway. They came to the country in 1880, and were told to...
Museum Musings — decolonizing history
Fred Payton The Museums Association of Saskatchewan, commonly referred to as MAS, develops policy and provides direction for programmes and services to benefit all Saskatchewan...
Museum musings: Nisbet Church and blockhouse
Fred Payton, Prince Albert Historical Society In May, 1932, the Prince Albert Historical Society met in the City Council chambers (now the Prince Albert Arts Centre). The...