Museum requests taxidermy collection
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/01/2024 (707 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Brandon General Museum and Archives is hoping Brandon school trustees move forward with the museum’s request to take ownership of the B.J. Hales Taxidermy collection.
Keith Waterfield, museum administrator, and Brent Chamberlain, board chair, were set to make a presentation to the school board at its regular meeting on Monday, asking that the museum continue to keep and preserve the large taxidermy collection.
“It’s incredibly important. It’s a huge part of Brandon’s history,” Waterfield said before the meeting.
A taxidermized polar bear looks like it's smiling for the camera. The Brandon General Museum and Archives, where the polar bear is displayed, is currently home to a large taxidermy collection. (Submitted)
”B.J. Hales was an author and an educator. And he was really interested in the flora and fauna of Manitoba. He taught at a school here called the Normal School — he was the principal. He collected the taxidermy collection. This is a natural history collection. A lot of the pieces are over 100 years old, and a lot of them are connected to some sort of relevant people in Brandon’s history.”
The B.J. Hales Taxidermy collection has quite the history of its own. It was started by George Atkinson, a taxidermist and naturalist from Portage la Prairie. In 1913, Brandon’s B.J. Hales inherited the collection. In 1964, the collection was given to Brandon College (now Brandon University) and the institute continued to grow the collection. It became the B.J. Hales Museum of Natural History. In 2008, the university gifted the collection to the Brandon School Division.
In 2013, 100 years after Hales first inherited the original collection, the Brandon School Division loaned part of the collection to the Brandon General Museum and Archives. Since then, it has been carefully tended and Bruno the Bear, Stella the Coyote, Carrie the Fisher and the rest of the taxidermy animals have had a place to call home.
Waterfield said prior to BGM adopting the collection, most of it was in storage. He said guests to the museum delight in the vast collection of mammals and birds. There are even taxidermy hummingbirds to study.
“The important thing is that to see these animals up close is a real treat for people. So, if it was just in storage and not able to be displayed to the public, it would be a real shame. It’s not very often you can get quite close to a polar bear or a golden eagle,” Waterfield said.
The BSD trustees do not discuss delegations the same night they are presented. They will likely decide the fate of the B.J. Hales collection at their next regular meeting on Feb. 5.
A menagerie of taxidermized animals at the Brandon General Museum and Archives. They are part of the B.J. Hales Natural History exhibit. (Submitted)
» khenderson@brandonsun.com
»Twitter: @KHatBrandonSun