Kim Verrier, Red Deer MAG Exhibitions Coordinator, shows off a full WWII-era P.O.W. uniform, the only full set in Canada. It will be part of an upcoming exhibit entitled Upon Further Reflection. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

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Big things to come as Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery celebrates 50 years

Nov 16, 2022 | 1:10 PM

Half a century of history.

That’s the legacy of the award-winning Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery (MAG), which started out in 1972 as the Red Deer & District Museum Society.

On Tuesday night, museum officials held a short celebration, announcing that museum memberships are free through Nov. 2023.

Two short clips from oral history series created by Know History were shown; the clips featuring former MAG executive directors Morris Flewwelling and Lorna Johnson. The event also began with a land acknowledgment, and then prayer from local Elder Corky Jonasson, who expressed approval with how the museum has become a strong promoter of truth and reconciliation.

(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

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“The 50th anniversary means we’ve had 50 or more years of community support, and that support is still growing because we had that great foundation in the beginning,” said Kim Verrier, Exhibitions Coordinator.

“We have so many pieces in our collection and so many stories we can tell which represent Red Deer and area, and our community — from the present and the past.”

Verrier said the collection is in fact so big, at approximately 65,478 items in the database, that physical growth of the museum upward or horizontally is inevitable. That number is why a consolidation project is ongoing, and why such an expansion would be particularly beneficial for kids camps and school classes which come to visit.

“We have some really cool and rare artefacts which speak to important moments in history, but we also have the everyday things from someone who perhaps didn’t become famous,” Verrier added.

(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

“In the rare and unusual category, we have the only complete P.O.W. uniform in Canada. It’s a German uniform, the type that would’ve been seen in Lethbridge or Kananaskis where German P.O.W.s were sent. We have the pants, shirt and hat, but most museums only have the shirt.”

Among other peculiar items, the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery has a dress which belonged to Irene Parlby, one of the Famous Five who took the Persons Case to the Supreme Court of Canada and beyond.

Parlby died in Red Deer in 1967, aged 97. The museum also has a skirt worn by her housekeeper.

“If our collection staff didn’t take their time while accepting these types of objects, they may just say ‘Oh it’s just another skirt,’ said Verrier. “But when they do, we all get to realize the stories of people and how much depth they have to them.”

Morris Flewwelling was executive director of the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery from 1978 to 1996. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

For Flewwelling, a former mayor of Red Deer, and the museum’s ED from 1978 to 1996, the venue is a vital part of the community. That was part of the rationale behind the committee he chaired in 1970 recommending the museum to city council as a 60th anniversary project.

“It’s been very exciting and a life fulfillment to see the genesis of the museum to its temporary site, and the move to the new building, as well as its growth and expansion of collections,” Flewwelling told rdnewsNOW. “I don’t think people realize that the collections here are very very strong. For example, the textiles collection is the fourth most significant in Canada.”

That’s why when asked what his favourite exhibit in 50 years has been, his response was, “The next one.”

The Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery began as the Red Deer & District Museum Society in 1972, and then evolved over the decades. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

“The museum is a sort of living memory of the community, and so the next exhibit is going to be called Upon Further Reflection. It will bring out all the major treasures in this museum,” he says.

“That includes textiles such as the P.O.W. uniform, and a stone mortar done by Indigenous peoples which has been carbon dated to 6,400-years-old — the oldest in Alberta. There are a number of things like that which are truly emblematic of the community, but also important on a national scale.”

Upon Further Reflection is tentatively scheduled to open this December.

Johnson, MAG executive director from 2004 to 2021, received her Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee medal from the Alberta Museums Association earlier in the day on Tuesday in Calgary.

Lorna Johnson was executive director of the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery from 2004 to 2021. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

“The important thing about this museum is that it was built by the community. The diversity and extent of the collection shows that, and basically everything in the beginning was donated. That’s one of the most important aspects of it,” said Johnson.

“My belief has always been that the museum is a forum for informal learning, where one can encounter something they haven’t before, and get excited about something that intrigues them. That’s always been the MAG’s strength.”

For information about all the goings-on at the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery, visit reddeermuseum.com.

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