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Museum Tidbits

1886 - The Museum is created as the result of a petition, signed by 30 prominent citizens.

John Fannin appointed as the first curator, was an outdoorsman, a collector and gifted taxidermist.

The new institution opens in a room adjoining the Provincial Secretary's office in the Capital Buildings, nicknamed "the Bird Cages".

1889 - The Museum moves into the former Supreme Court Building.

1898 - The Museum moves to the East Wing of the present Legislative Buildings.

1904 - Francis Kermode becomes Director.

1911 - Registered attendance per year (actual attendance was probably two to three times these figures) increases from 3,740 in 1889 to nearly 30,000 by 1911.

1913 - The Provincial Museum Act is proclaimed, giving the museum formal operating authority and defining the objectives as follows:

• to secure and preserve specimens illustrating the natural history of the Province.
• to collect anthropological material relating to the aboriginal races of the Province.
• to obtain information respecting the natural sciences, relating particularly to the natural history of the Province, and diffuse knowledge regarding the same.

1915 - President Theodore Roosevelt of the United States visits the Museum and meets with Premier McBride and Francis Kermode.

1921 - The basement of the East Wing is excavated and turned into exhibition space for ethnological artifacts.

1928 - William Newcombe, son of C.F. Newcombe, joins the staff as Assistant Curator of Biology.

1934 - Dr. Ian McTaggart Cowan is appointed Assistant Curator of Biology.

1939 - The first in the series of Occasional Papers is published. The Vertebrate Fauna of the Peace River District of British Columbia, by Dr. Ian McTaggart Cowan.

1940 - Dr. McTaggart Cowan resigns to accept a position at the University of British Columbia.

Francis Kermode retires after more than 40 years with the Museum. Dr. G. Clifford Carl is appointed Acting Director.

1941 - Thunderbird Park officially opens.

1945 - Attendance is estimated at 75,000 (a record year to date).

1952 - The totem pole carving program in Thunderbird Park starts.

1961 - Estimated annual attendance reaches 100,000 (64,000 registered).

1962 - The Provincial Museum of Natural History and Anthropology - 75th Banquet is held at the Empress Hotel on Saturday, October 27.

1963 - Premier W.A.C. Bennett announces plans to construct a new Museum and Archives building as a Centennial project.

1966 - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother dedicates the new museum cornerstone.

1967 - Another Provincial Museum Act is passed, recognizing the need for a division to study and preserve artifacts from the period of European settlement in the province.

1968 - The Provincial Museum of Natural History and Anthropology is renamed the British Columbia Provincial Museum. Museum moves to Heritage Court Complex.

1972 - First permanent exhibit, the Modern History Gallery, opens. Attendance exceeds one million.

1975 - The 12,000 Year Gap and First Peoples Galleries open to the public.

1979 - Living Land, Living Sea opens, phase one of the Natural History Galleries.

1986 - The Museum celebrates its Centennial.

1987 - Phase 2 of the Natural History Exhibits, Open Oceans, is completed.

1987 - The British Columbia Provincial Museum becomes the Royal British Columbia Museum.