mala_14 | Day at the (Manitoba) Museum

Went to the Museum this weekend with a couple of friends, the ladies of Victorian at Heart. We went specifically to take advantage of the awesome Urban Gallery as a setting for Edwardian costume photos. It was a lot of fun. Sadly, one of the three of us was not able to dress up for this occasion, but played photographer for us. On the plus side, now that we all have, or will have, Edwardian stuff, there are a lot more options for local events and photo ops. There was a big boom in our town in the 1910s, so lots of our lovely historic buildings date from that time, including our Legislative Building and the fancy (used to be railroad) hotel. The Urban Gallery in the museum reflects this and tries to capture our city in the 1920s by creating a section of the city that can be explored by visitors.

After walking by the railroad tracks, we stopped by the local cinema, the Proscenium, where they play Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton films.

I made a quick phone call at the local cafe. ;p (Which has fabulous wallpaper, by the way.)

Down the street at the drug store, there was a lot of photo equipment in the window that made me think of

koshka_the_cat and her brownie camera.

They carry a lot of drugs at this place.

You can go upstairs in some of the buildings and be creepy by taking a look into some people's bedrooms.

This lady lived down the hall from the jeweller/watchmaker who had lots of shiny things for sale.

But maybe you'd rather save your money. If so, you can go deposit it at the bank.

Do you have an appointment? (Check out that awesome floor mosaic and fireplace!)

But not too far away from all this wealth is the garment factory.

Where they play sounds of the machines whirring. (Yeah, they went all out on the fully immersive experience. ;p)

Seriously. They even have squirrels and pigeons hanging around, which you can see from upstairs at the photo studio and cabinet maker's. (I don't think I had ever noticed this squirrel before. He's now my second favourite thing at the museum. :D)

Oh pigeons, you rodents of the sky. (The little doorway you can just see near the back is the Mission.)

This thriving business also has a dark room in the back.

It's hard to get the scope of the place and how extensive it is because things are so close together. This is a good shot of part of it. Just two costumers window shopping.

And, because we're on the prairies, of course we have the railroad depot. (Right by the dentist, apparently.)

I was expecting a delivery. Is this it?

Probably not. Because if I was living in the 1920s here, the only delivery I'd be getting is people's dirty laundry.

So that was our time spent in the 1920s. BUT, we have a bonus time traveling trip, back to the 1660s! Check out the Nonsuch, a recreation of a real ship. It was sailed and then put on this spot by the museum and then had the building built over and around it. It's Glorious.

And you can go aboard. At your own risk! (And let me say, hobble skirts and heels were not my best wardrobe choice for this venture, so I didn't end up climbing all over the ship like usual. Of course this led me to the obvious conclusion that I need something c.1670 to wear to visit the ship in the future.)

You can go down into the cabins where the bed are and up on the decks.

Unfortunately, there was construction going on. So I wasn't able to do my very favourite thing in this museum, go down to the water and walk on the water. This ground is usually all shiny with little waves. I hope the construction isn't going to change that.

However, the dockside buildings were still open so you can stroll around 1660s England before boarding the ship to the New World.

They had guns...

and a dim room where small children could have a seat after running all over the place exploring the museum.

I really do think the ship is Glorious.

Even though it's surrounded by more lumber than usual.

And, lucky you, if you've made it this far. There were some other cool artifacts. Like this 1880s dress where the skirt is mounted in the most bizarre way (I think the back is on the left and the front is on the right, but it looks like there are panniers underneath, wtf).

There's a little girl's dress with an awesome ribbon detail.

And a fancy office, where you'd take care of business if you were important and working for the Hudson's Bay Company.

Whew! That was A LOT. (You can see all my photos from this trip here in my Flickr album.) But I seriously love this museum. They keep adding new and interesting things that show off different aspects of our history. And I love how these particular spaces are set up, with not just one thing to focus on or objects out of context, but a whole environment to explore: an evening downtown in the 1920s and sunset at the dockside in 1660s England.