Webster! Interview: McCarthy, Harcourt, RichardsonRoyal BC Museum2026-09-17 | Webster! Interview: McCarthy, Harcourt, RichardsonArt with Chrystal Phan - 2024Royal BC Museum2024-05-16 | Between 1979 and 1982 more than 60,000 refugees from South East Asia resettled in Canada. Almost 75% were from Vietnam. Artist Chrystal Phan’s family arrived from Vietnam in the fall of 1980.
Join Chrystal for a virtual visit where we’ll look at her family’s story, examine some of her paintings and do a drawing activity together. Bring paper and pencil.
Digital Field Trips - rbcm.ca/dftLive at Lunch: Advocacy and ActivismRoyal BC Museum2024-05-15 | To celebrate Asian Heritage Month, this Live at Lunch event will share the work being done by Dr. Tzu-I Chung, Curator of History, and Yuxwelupton Qwalqaxala, Director of Culture Transformation and UNDRIP Implementation.
They will talk about how they are preserving diverse community cultural heritage, considering the practices around the world and how they think about protecting cultural heritage through facilitating community expressions.
They will look at examples from existing work that shows diverse communities’ advocacy for their cultural heritage, and will share cross-cultural community discussions to support each other and create a better future for everyone.RBCM@Home goes to the McAbee Fossil BedsRoyal BC Museum2024-05-08 | For this session, we travel way back in time (over 50 million years ago) to the McAbee Fossil Beds. The McAbee Fossil Beds were formed during the Eocene Epoch and is remarkable for it's diversity of fossil specimens, including insect, plant, and fish fossils. Renowned worldwide, this fossil site offers a spectacular glimpse into the Eocene's biodiversity and ecosystems.
Join Chief Frank Antoine of the St'uxwtèws Bonaparte First Nation, as he talks about the care and management of the McAbee Fossil Beds. Also joining in will be Derek Larson, collections manager and researcher in Paleontology at Royal BC Museum, and Tom Dickinson, Professor Emeritus at Thompson Rivers University.
Community Engagement - royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/community-engagementPlant Adaptations in the Extreme!Royal BC Museum2024-04-30 | British Columbia is Canada’s most mountainous province. How do plants survive and thrive in extreme alpine environments?
Curator of Botany Dr. Ken Marr works in remote, high altitude places documenting and learning about the plants that live there.
Join Dr. Marr for an online visit to some of those places and learn about the wide diversity of plant species in BC alpine habitats and how those plants adapt to the extreme conditions they call home.
Paneet Singh is a Punjabi-Sikh playwright and filmmaker whose work is largely inspired and informed by Sikh and South Asian cultures and histories. He is most well known for his two critically-acclaimed stageplays, The Undocumented Trial of William C. Hopkinson and A Vancouver Guldasta, and his documentary films - the nationally televised Press Breaker - and The Ecstatic. Outside of theatre and film Paneet is a co-host of The Nameless Collective South Asian Canadian history podcast, and a volunteer at the Sikh martial art club, the Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Ji Gatka Akhara.
The Nameless Collective Podcast - thenamelesscollective.caLive at Lunch: Craft Brewing in BCRoyal BC Museum2024-03-20 | Hear stories about the late 19th and early 20th century brewers of both Vancouver and Victoria, who began an industry that would help shape BC's cultural identity and economy. The brewmasters and the businessmen (and businesswomen!) of BC, who were small business owners with deep ties to their communities, competed with saloon culture and reduced the province's reliance on imported beverages. Noelle Phillips will share some tales from forgotten pre-corporate foundations of BC craft brewing.
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Noelle Phillips received her PhD from UBC and is an English instructor at Douglas College. Her first two academic books focused on the pre-modern history of craft brewing and the use of medieval tropes to market modern craft beer. She is a regular contributor to The Growler: BC's Craft Beer Magazine and the BC Ale Trail. Her new book, which will come out in Fall 2024 with TouchWood Editions, is a history of craft beer in Vancouver from the 19th century immigrant brewers to modern-day craft breweries.Live at Lunch: Black Histories of British Columbia: Explore-Discover-Learn-ShareRoyal BC Museum2024-02-21 | Join guest speaker Fran Morrison to learn more about the diversity of Black people in BC and Canada. This Live at Lunch provides an overview of some of the resources developed by BC Black History Awareness Society that could help to set the stage for understanding and learning about the histories, realities, and legacies of the many Black incomers and immigrants of African and Caribbean heritage who made and continue to make remarkable achievements in all aspects of society.
rbcm.ca/digitalfieldtripsRoyal BC Museum & IMAX Victoria Combo PassRoyal BC Museum2024-01-18 | Experience more for less with a Royal BC Museum and IMAX® Victoria Combo Pass. RBCM.CA/COMBOPASSThis Week in History: Season 12, Episode 13: Millions of Mysterious Eggs Discovered Near Haida GwaiiRoyal BC Museum2024-01-16 | A team of scientists have discovered a unique underwater nursery, nearly a kilometre deep, with unusually warm temperatures. Using a submersible and a Canadian Coast Guard vessel, a team of researchers were recently tasked with exploring BC's underwater peaks, or “seamounts.” What the sub’s camera caught near the south coast of Haida Gwaii surprised everyone watching from above. Hundreds of large Skate eggs covered the top of an extinct volcano.This Week in History: Season 12, Episode 12: History of Film CensorshipRoyal BC Museum2024-01-16 | Starting in 1913, one man determined which movies made it to theatres across British Columbia. The Censor of Moving Pictures decided what was a ‘decent’ film, and what was not. One of the first banned features was The Rattlesnake. The censor reasoned, “Snakes used throughout. Horrible, loathsome and nauseating in extreme.”
The BC Archives holds the records of the Censor of Moving Pictures. Archivist Rachel McRory shows how the documents provide a glimpse into BC's societal values over time.This Week in History: Season 12, Episode 11: Researchers Discover Camel-like Mammal in Southern BCRoyal BC Museum2024-01-10 | UVic student, Andrea Valcourt may have identified a rare, to Canada, Merycoidodon. Andrea Valcourt is studying at the Royal BC Museum and believes the 35-million-year-old skull fossil she’s been analyzing is that of a sheep-sized, grazing mammal.This Week in History: Season 12, Episode 10: How Emily Carr Found Fame in Her FiftiesRoyal BC Museum2024-01-10 | BC Archives houses over15,000 pieces of our province’s most important artworks. Within its vaults, one can find a diverse array of artistic styles, including a modernist piece from The Group of Seven to the largest collection of Emily Carr paintings.
India Young, the curator of art and images, showcases 'House at Gitwangak,' painted in 1927. Describing it as a quintessential Group of Seven painting by A.Y. Jackson, a founding member of the Group of Seven. 'House at Gitwangak' was part of the seminal exhibition that discovered Emily Carr and shared Emily Carr's works with the world.This Week in History: Season 12, Episode 9: Researchers Seek Answers for Dinosaur Extra ToesRoyal BC Museum2024-01-10 | Researchers are studying a dinosaur footprint fossil with four toe-prints instead of the typical three. The preserved track was found in northeast B.C. and researchers at the Royal BC Museum want to know what made the unusual footprint.
The fossilized prints were from a theropod dinosaur, which usually walk upright on their back legs. Theropods typically leave three-toed impressions in footprint fossils, but a track found near Hudson’s Hope clearly shows four toes.Happy Holidays from the Royal BC MuseumRoyal BC Museum2023-12-15 | ...This Week in History: Season 12, Episode 8: Bird and mammal specimens provide insight into the pastRoyal BC Museum2023-12-06 | The Royal B.C. Museum has been collecting bird and mammal specimens for scientific research since the 1800’s. The carefully preserved animals, and accompanying data, provide a tangible glimpse into the past and how animals have been affected over time.This Week in History: Season 12, Episode 7: Mystery of the silver canoeRoyal BC Museum2023-12-06 | Staff at the BC Archives are often tasked with building a history for mysterious donations to the Royal B.C. Museum.
Archivist Stu Hill uses the ample records at the B.C. Archives to stitch together an item’s backstory and determine if it has a place in the collection.
Hill recently investigated a replica, silver canoe on top of a wooden plaque. After consulting with the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Hill found out the canoe was nearly 200 years old and repurposed for a commemorative award over 100 years later.Hungry Hungry DinosaursRoyal BC Museum2023-12-05 | We’re getting up close and personal with SUE to find out more about dinosaur habitats and diets in the Late Cretaceous with our friends at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario.
Mountain Dinosaur of BC Pathway - learning.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/pathways/bcs-mountain-dinosaurThis Week in History: Season 12, Episode 6: Did meat-eating dinosaurs have lips?Royal BC Museum2023-11-22 | A group of scientists believe meat-eating dinosaurs, like T-Rex, may not have had the menacing smile depicted in most movies like Jurassic Park.
Derek Larson, collections manager and researcher for paleontology at the Royal BC Museum, believes meat-eating dinos had lips which covered their teeth. Larsen, together with a team of scientists from around the world, published their findings in Science back in March. Their findings have already changed how the public perceives the iconic T-Rex.
The study informed the design of the travelling exhibit “Sue: A T-Rex Experience,’ currently being exhibited at the Royal BC Museum. Sue, a life-sized reconstruction of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, has lips.Live at Lunch: A peek into the palaeontology preparation labRoyal BC Museum2023-11-15 | Join University of Victoria student Andrea Valcourt in the palaeontology preparation lab to see what it takes to prepare fossils for research, collections and exhibits.
Mountain Dinosaur of BC - learning.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/pathways/bcs-mountain-dinosaurThis Week in History: Season 12, Episode 5: Collection Depicts Life in a Wartime HospitalRoyal BC Museum2023-11-15 | A Victoria family’s remarkable donation to the Royal BC Museum paints a picture of what life was like as a Canadian working at a wartime hospital in Greece during the First World War.Remembering World War I - 2023Royal BC Museum2023-11-09 | Remembering World War I with Royal BC Museum history collections manager Paul Ferguson. Join us as we examine World War I locations that are significant to British Columbians.
Remembering World War I (2022 version with different objects!) - youtu.be/w2gEv6UkECg?si=Id73U5pYTR6V3ur5Live at Lunch: Ethnobotany of Some Chinese MelonsRoyal BC Museum2023-11-09 | Curator of Botany, Dr. Ken Marr lived in China for two and a half years while studying the process of domestication of several species of the squash/cucumber/melon family. He will discuss what he learned about how humans have changed the biology of these plants and some of the traditional stories that villagers have about them.
Did you know that most of the plants that you will eat today looked very different only hundreds of years ago? Some even used to be poisonous. Ethnobotany is the science of describing the interactions between plants and people. Thousands of years ago farmers in many parts of the world initiated the gradual process of changing wild plants into the edible cultivated plants that we enjoy today. Some food plants are also associated with fascinating stories.
Recorded on September 20, 2023
Dr. Ken Marr - staff.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/author/rbcm_kmarrChasing Dinosaurs in British Columbia with Dr Victoria ArbourRoyal BC Museum2023-11-02 | Freshly back From the Field, Join Dr. Victoria Arbour, curator of paleontology at the Royal BC Museum, for a look at what she and her team discovered this past summer in northern BC! This expedition was funded by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s Trebek Initiative Grants, supporting incredible Canadian storytelling coast to coast!
Streamed on October 4, 2023 with Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants
learning.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/pathways/bcs-mountain-dinosaurThis Week in History: Season 12, Episode 3: Royal BC MuseumRoyal BC Museum2023-11-01 | The newly appointed acting CEO of the Royal BC Museum, Tracey Drake, acknowledges recent setbacks, however she confidently asserts that the museum is now set to showcase a full slate of exhibits, and she sees a promising and bright future ahead.This Week in History: Season 12, Episode 2: The Mystery of the Mountain Flower MimicRoyal BC Museum2023-11-01 | Sometimes, listening to a parent can be the last thing you want to do. But for Ken Marr, Curator of Botany at the Royal BC Museum, a suggestion from his mother paved the way for a significant scientific breakthrough.This Week in History: Season 12, Episode 1: Mushrooms of BC at the Royal BC MuseumRoyal BC Museum2023-11-01 | Mushrooms are in peak season around Southern BC and the Royal BC Museum is hosting events for the forage curious.Creep, Crawl, SlitherRoyal BC Museum2023-10-31 | Some kinds of arthropods have wings and antennae. The quantity and types of these body parts, and how they are arranged, tell you if an animal is an insect, spider, millipede, or centipede. There are reptiles that also can fly, but they don’t have wings. How many reptiles do you know from British Columbia?
Join curator of vertebrate zoology Dr. Gavin Hanke and curator of entomology, Dr. Joel Gibson for this live program. You'll leave with a new appreciation for animals that creep, crawl, and slither!
What Has Six Legs - learning.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/pathways/what-has-six-legs Not So Scary - learning.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/pathways/not-so-scary Something Fishy - learning.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/pathways/something-fishyLive at Lunch: Fungi Fes - MycoheterotrophsRoyal BC Museum2023-10-24 | Mycoheterotrophs are a group of distinctively weird vascular plants. They lack chlorophyll, and the missing pigment has two important effects: these plants aren’t green (they’re usually white or pink), and they can’t manufacture their own food through photosynthesis. Many field guides describe these plants as saprophytes, plants that derive their nutrition from decaying organic matter. Plants, however, don’t get food this way, and the “myco” at the beginning of the word “mycoheterotroph” explains what is really happening: these odd plants get their nutrition from fungi!
About Guest Speaker Andy MacKinnon:
Andy MacKinnon is a forest ecologist who lives in Metchosin, BC. He was lead BC scientist for Environment Canada’s 2017 ranking of our province’s threatened and endangered fungal species. Andy has taught rainforest ecology field courses in Bamfield and Tofino (for the University of Victoria) and Haida Gwaii (for UBC). He is co-author of six best-selling books about plants of western North America, and co-author of the Royal BC Museum Handbook Mushrooms of British Columbia. He is past-president of the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society (SVIMS), and an enthusiastic participant, speaker and field trip leader for various mushroom festivals in southwestern BC each autumn.
Fungi: Web of Life at IMAX - imaxvictoria.com/movies/#fungiTreaty Talk Book LaunchRoyal BC Museum2023-10-04 | In response to the pivotal call to action in the book Life Against States of Emergency: Revitalizing treat relations from Attawapiskat, author Dr Sarah Marie Wiebe and panelists Janet Hanuse, Yuxwelupton Qwal’qaxala (Bradley Dick), and Dr. Rob Lapper discuss what I means to be in a treaty relationship today.Whats On at the Royal BC MuseumRoyal BC Museum2023-08-17 | Explore two incredible feature exhibitions at the Royal BC Museum. Come face to face with SUE the T. rex and uncover the mysteries of Angkor, only at the Royal BC Museum.This Week In History - Season 11 Episode 31: Old Town, New ApproachRoyal BC Museum2023-07-11 | Join museum CEO Alicia Dubois as she explores the plans to reopen the popular Old Town exhibit.This Week In History - Season 11 Episode 30: Plant GallsRoyal BC Museum2023-07-10 | Join Joel as he explores the incredible phenomenon of plant galls.RBCM@Home Queer Lives During WWIRoyal BC Museum2023-07-10 | 2SLGBTQ+ (Queer) history advocate and founder of the Newfoundland Queer Research Institute, Sarah Worthman, discusses her recent research into the lives of queer Canadians during the First World War. Her report has unearthed never-before-seen records of queer persecution at the hands of the Canadian federal government. By sharing this history, she hopes to showcase the complexities of queerness in this period.
2SLGBTQ+ Persecution in the First World War report - lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Final-draft-English.pdfLive at Lunch: Plant Galls and What EmergedRoyal BC Museum2023-06-08 | In the winter of 2022, curator of entomology Dr. Joel Gibson collected plant galls from the Native Plant Garden at the Royal BC Museum. Over the next few months he reared them out to see what insects were inside. Come and discover what it emerged and what Dr. Gibson is going to do next.
This Week In History - Season 11 Episode 13: Plant Galls - youtu.be/O7RFgo5J25URBCM@Home (Community Engagement so far)Royal BC Museum2023-05-31 | Welcome to RBCM@Home! In January 2023, the Royal BC Museum began the first phase of community engagement. We are excited to share our findings so far, and initial plans for next steps. This first phase was only the beginning, and we look forward to continuing to engage with as many people as possible, from many different cultures and communities across the province in future phases.
This RBCM@Home session will also include a virtual tour of the Old Town gallery. During this virtual tour we will showcase the changes that have been undertaken, and the important collaborations to come as we work more closely with community partners.
Recording of a dialogue session: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn03-Ssq9zsArt with Chrystal Phan - LivestreamRoyal BC Museum2023-05-29 | Between 1979-1980 more than 60,000 refugees from Vietnam resettled in Canada. Artist Chrystal Phan’s family arrived on Canada’s west coast in the fall of 1980. Join Chrystal as we look at her family’s story, examine some of her paintings and do a drawing activity together.
Chrystal Phan - chrystalphan.caThis Week In History - Season 11 Episode 29: Mount MakingRoyal BC Museum2023-05-11 | On this episode Cindy takes us through the surprising depth and craft that goes into making unobtrusive mounts for the museums display items.Live at Lunch: Dinosaurs of BCRoyal BC Museum2023-05-03 | Curator of paleontology, Dr. Victoria Arbour will share some of the exciting stories of discovery behind our new feature exhibition, Dinosaurs of BC. Hear about her fieldwork plans for this upcoming season and what she hopes to find next.
A Day in the Life of... Victoria Arbour - royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/blog/post/081122/day-life-victoria-arbourThis Week In History - Season 11 Episode 28: Accessible Dinosaur ModelsRoyal BC Museum2023-04-26 | Learn how we're making exhibits more accessible through the use of touchable models and see the methods we use to craft these amazing models.This Week In History - Season 11 Episode 27: Between Us Book ReleaseRoyal BC Museum2023-04-21 | Curator of art and images Dr. India Young takes us through a new book featuring the work of artist Adad Hannah, and his project documenting British Columbians during the COVID-19 pandemic.This Week In History - Season 11 Episode 26: Dinosaurs of BCRoyal BC Museum2023-04-21 | Palaeontology curator Victoria Arbour takes us through the field work and research that went into Dinosaurs of BC, a new exhibit on now at the Royal BC Museum.Extreme Adaptations!Royal BC Museum2023-04-13 | British Columbia is Canada’s most mountainous province. How do plants survive and thrive in extreme alpine environments?
Curator of botany Dr. Ken Marr works in remote, high altitude places documenting and learning about the plants that live there.
Join Dr. Marr for an online visit to some of those places and learn about the wide diversity of plant species in BC alpine habitats and how those plants adapt to the extreme conditions they call home.
Targeted at grades 4 to 7, but everyone is welcome.
Curator of art and images, India Rael Young will explore the question "What does the collection in the BC Archives of photographs by tourists, tell us about how we view our province?" . By looking at tourist photographs from different eras Dr. Young will share some of the related cultural, social, and political implications of those photographs when they were made.
Adad Hannah Instagram - instagram.com/adadhannah/?hl=enThis Week In History - Season 11 Episode 25: Indigenous LearningRoyal BC Museum2023-04-05 | Join Steven Davies as he discusses how learning about First Nations technology and innovation enriches our knowledge of the land we live on.This Week In History - Season 11 Episode 24: Vietnamese Canadian ExperiencesRoyal BC Museum2023-03-29 | Vietnamese Canadian artist Chrystal Phan takes us through the creation of a pathway on our learning portal dedicated to the Vietnamese Canadian experience in BC.
Explore the learning portal here: learning.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/pathways/vietnamese-canadian-experiences-in-bcThis Week In History - Season 11 Episode 23: IMAX Victoria ProjectionistsRoyal BC Museum2023-03-29 | Learn how the award-winning IMAX Victoria team is not only delivering an incredible theatre experience, but also helping produce the IMAX films you love.This Week In History - Season 11 Episode 22: New Turtle SpeciesRoyal BC Museum2023-03-22 | Learn about a new species of turtle discovered right here on Vancouver Island. Paleontology collections manager Derek Larson shares the process of discovering a new species, including giving it a name.