Photo courtesy of Samantha Lee.
The Lacombe Museums latest exhibition is showcasing recent acquisitions that depict the history of Lacombe and the surrounding area.
The exhibition, “This Just In: Recent Acquisitions” features artifacts and archival material that’s been donated to the Lacombe Museums between 2020 and 2024.
“We have quite a range of items, from paintings, photographs, to some clothing,” said Samantha Lee, Lacombe Museums Community Engagement Coordinator. “This will be quite an artifact heavy exhibition.”
Photo courtesy of Samantha Lee.
Viewers can expect a range of items that showcase the history of Lacombe.
“We've managed to be gifted a good hundred years of Lacombe’s history, so a few of our smaller items or photographs are going to be showing a much earlier Lacombe,” Lee said. “We have a few things up to the 80s, so we’re diving quite far into the past, but it’s also a great opportunity to show more recent history in Lacombe.”
The process of how the museum collected the artifacts, and how they are cared for, will also be incorporated into the exhibition.
Lee estimates that over 90 per cent of the items in the museum's collection have been donated by the community.
For an item to be accepted by the museum, it must represent the history of the City of Lacombe or the surrounding area.
“Preferably the person donating it can give us a bit of background information,” Lee said. “When it comes to putting it on display, it's much easier for us to connect it to our community if we have that little bit of history.”
Lee is hopeful that viewers enjoy the items on display, and that the exhibition increases public awareness of how the museum acquires artifacts and how they are cared for.
“We're hoping to pull back that curtain a little bit so that it helps people make decisions if they do have something that they've been considering taking to the museum,” she said. “Maybe it helps them figure out what the next steps are if they have something that's special to our history.”
Photo courtesy of Samantha Lee.
Going forward, the museum is still searching for photographs to help fill in history gaps.
“There's a lot that wasn't written down and we're hoping that there's people out there that have those puzzle pieces for us,” Lee said.
This is the first exhibition the Lacombe Museums has done that is dedicated solely to displaying locally donated artifacts.
“It was a bigger undertaking than we've been able to do in the past, but that's what made it more interesting and more exciting for us because we actually offer the space and the ability to put out a lot of things for people to enjoy,” Lee said.
The “This Just In: Recent Acquisitions” exhibition will open Nov. 13 and run into the new year at the Flatiron Building Museum.
“We're pretty excited about this. We love getting to set out artifacts, and with this one you can come and just enjoy the artifacts, and really get into the narrative about the secret world of museums.”
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