Canadian Museum of Nature

Formerly the National Museum of Natural Sciences, the museum was renamed in 1990. The origins of the CMN may be found in the GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA (1842) and the NATIONAL MUSEUMS OF CANADA. In 1956 Natural and Human History branches were established that were to become the CMN and CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION (CMC, formerly the National Museum of Man) under the National Museums Act of 1968, which established the National Museum of Canada, a crown corporation reporting to the minister of communications. In 1987 the minister announced the federal government's intention to dissolve the corporation and establish the national museums as independent, autonomous institutions.

Keywords

Museums, Galleries & Archives

Relocation

Following a major renovation of the Victoria Memorial Museum in the early 1970s, only the permanent galleries of the CMN and CMC remained in the building, with staff and collections being dispersed throughout the National Capital Region. After the 1988-89 relocation of the CMC to a new site in Hull, Québec, the CMN expanded its exhibitions throughout the building's 8000 m² of available space. The CMN is a component of the National Museums of Canada, a crown corporation reporting to the heritage minister.

The collections of the museum are its prime asset and their scientific, heritage and commercial value are irreplaceable. Although used in exhibits, they are much more than display collections, for they contain the essential standards against which all biological and geological research is conducted. These specimens are the definitive proof of the existence, variation and distribution of animals, plants and minerals in time and space.

Curators, while collecting for the national collections, played an important role in exploring western Canada and, in more recent times, the Arctic. Notable were John MACOUN, who made valuable botanical studies of the Prairies in the 1870s; Percy Algernon TAVERNER, whose ornithological research culminated in the classic Birds of Canada, published in 1934; Charles Mortram STERNBERG, who collected more dinosaur fossils than any other individual, mostly from the Alberta Badlands; and Alf Erling PORSILD, an authority on the alpine and arctic plants of North America and Greenland.

The CMN maintains collections of vascular plants, mosses, bryophytes, lichens, algae, birds, mammals, film and audio records of bird and mammal behaviour, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, invertebrate animals (notably, molluscs, polychaetes and crustaceans), minerals, gemstones, rocks, vertebrate fossils (notably, dinosaurs and Quaternary mammals), and fossil spores and plants. The majority of these collections are the most complete of their kind in the world. The museum also houses a collection of natural history art, and collections of mounted birds and mammals that are available with specimens and models for exhibit and education programs. In total, the CMN collections, soon to be rehoused in a new curatorial complex, contain over 2.5 million accessioned specimen lots that include about 5 million species. Approximately 100 000 specimens are added to the collections annually, with most collected by staff. An arctic research station is maintained on BATHURST ISLAND to support field projects.

Macoun, John
Macoun compiled a catalogue of plants that was the first in Canada to compare with the best from abroad (courtesy Canadian Museum of Civilization).

Exhibition Galleries

Among the museum's first public successes were an exhibition of economically valuable minerals for the 1851 Great Exhibition in London and the instigation of specimen loans for schools in 1874. Currently, there are 8 exhibition galleries that average one-half million visitors annually, and more than 70 travelling exhibits that circulate to institutions throughout Canada and abroad are produced each decade. Innovative education programs continue to be an essential component of exhibitions, with theatre, film, workshops, field trips and other media being used to meet the needs of special audiences such as preschool children, the aged and the handicapped. A natural history information service is available to the public. The National Museum of Natural Sciences published 2 scientific series, Syllogeus and Publications in Natural Sciences, in addition to trade publications which have included such national best-sellers as The Birds of Canada by W. Earl Godfrey.

The museum is organized into 3 curatorial research divisions (Botany, Zoology, and Earth Sciences), 4 public programming divisions (Exhibits, Design and Technical Operations, Education, Outreach), an administration sector and a directorate.

See also MUSEUM POLICY.

Author RIDGELEY WILLIAMS

Links to Other Sites

Canadian Museum of Nature
An extensive and informative website devoted to Canada's natural history.

Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects
The website for the award-winning Canadian firm KPMB Architects. Check out their impressive online portfolio which features views of previous projects. Also includes profiles of the firm’s partners.