Museum of Vancouver in Vanier Park

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Words by Dennis Begin

When Captain George Vancouver dropped anchor off Spanish Banks in 1792, his objective was to map the entire Pacific Northwest Coast, including English Bay and Burrard Inlet. What Vancouver would have seen was two islands, one later becoming Stanley Park and the second, downtown Vancouver. There was no Lost Lagoon, only a creek from Second Beach to Coal Harbour. Downtown Vancouver was covered in a vast forest while False Creek was four times its present size and connected to Burrard Inlet at high tide. False Creek and Granville Island at low tide were reduced to a sand-bar or mud-flat. Captain Vancouver was not very impressed, because he failed to explore False Creek or the mouth of the Fraser River. Although Vancouver met the Tsleil-Waututh or ‘People of the Inlet’, he failed to visit the ancestral village of Senakw 9Snauq), situated between the Burrard Street Bridge and the Museum of Vancouver (MOV).

One of the first Vancouver museums in 1905 was located in the Carnegie Library at Main and Hastings, but a larger museum was needed by 1967. Canada's Centennial year (1867-1967) provided the funding from the federal government, and Gerald Hamilton was hired as the chief architect. Before construction could start, the entire area including Vanier Park to Granville Island needed landfill. The rock and dirt came from the construction of the MacMillan Bloedel (Mac Blo) building in downtown Vancouver. Harry R. MacMillan, a businessman and philanthropist, donated three million dollars on the stipulation that a planetarium w incorporated into the design. Thus, the Museum of Vancouver (MOV) now consists of two separate museums sharing a common lobby. The MOV has two wings with eleven rooms for exhibits, while the Space Centre is an open exhibit with an attached theatre. Admission fees are separate.

The Museum of Vancouver is very unique in its design. The shape resembles a woven basket hat made by the Coastal Salish First Nations (Squamish and Musqueum). The 18-foot crab statue at the entrance, designed by George Norris, represents the crabs that guarded the village harbour in Indian mythology. Despite its futuristic architecture, the goal of the museum is to preserve the past, while creating programs and exhibits that explain what is and what can be in the future.

MacMillan Space Centre

It is the MacMillan Space Centre that attracts hundreds of school children. Many of the exhibits are hands-on with a Student Program Area. As soon as you enter the darkened space centre, the room is “….like no place on earth.” A space suit hanging on the wall soon caught my eye and made a good photo op - it was the real suit of astronaut Michael Collins of Apollo 11. If you look towards the ceiling, you will see models of satellites, a Russian Space Station and an astronaut on a spacewalk. There is even a J2 engine used on the Saturn V Rocket during the Apollo Program. Rocks are also part of the exhibits, including a large meteorite and a real rock from the moon, allowing you to “….touch the moon.”

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Photo Op in a space suit.

Patricia Begin

Photo Op in a space suit.

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Model of J2 engine for Saturn V Rockets.

Dennis Begin

Model of J2 engine for Saturn V Rockets.

The Planetarium (Star Theatre), features shows about earth science, space science, and astronomy. Some of the 45-minute shows, projected on the ceiling of the dome, include titles such as One Night Sky, Dark Matter Mystery and Surfing the Solar System. Check the schedule for topics/time at the front desk and “…. lie back and experience the universe”. The Space Centre also provides the Ground Station Canada, with 20-minute shows such as A Day in Space with the Astronauts.

The Museum of Vancouver

The MOV features a good selection of Vancouver history, beginning with Haida Now, displaying 450 works created by carvers, weavers, photographers and native artists. Other Feature Exhibits include Wild Things: The Power of Nature in Our Lives. Neon Vancouver/Ugly Vancouver deals with Vancouver when the city had more neon signs (19,000) than Las Vegas. Cesna’em (City Before the City) displays artifacts of early ancestral Musqueam villages along the Fraser River (Marpole).

The museum also hosts special exhibits, ranging in the past from City on Edge: A Century of Vancouver Activism, to Rationing to Ravishing: Women’s Fashions. There is Truth Here is the current exhibit running until January 2020. It "focuses on rare surviving artworks created by children who attended the Inkameep Day School (Okanagan), St Michael's Indian Residential School (Alert Bay); the Alberni Indian Residential School (Vancouver Island) and Mackay Indian Residential School (Manitoba)."

The Historical Galleries (1900-1970) shows decades of Vancouver history starting with Gateway to the Pacific (1900-1920), Boom, Bust and War (1930-1940), The Fifties Gallery (1950s) and Say You Want a Revolution (1960s-70s). Each decade has its own events and artifacts from that period. I enjoyed the union/labour history, the retro beauty parlor, the Asahi Baseball team, the Ford Fairlane and reliving the Sixties with the hippies' counterculture.

The Gordon MacMillan Observatory.

The Observatory, only a very short walk from the MOV, was donated to the people of Vancouver in memory of Gordon MacMillan by his parents and siblings. Built in 1979, this is a great place to view the vast universe. On Saturday evenings, the roof opens and the telescope turns towards its target. The telescope is a ½ metre, Cassegrain Reflector. If the Observatory looks familiar, it may be because it was featured on TV show Stargate SG-1.

Vancouver Archives

The word ‘archives' means a collection of historical documents, be they primary or secondary sources. Vancouver's first archives date back to 1898 when J.S. Matthews began his private collection on the early history of Vancouver. The current building, half underground for fire safety, was opened in 1972 by the city. It is the official repository for government documents and personal records, be it the Major’s Office, Police Department, or Office of the City Clerk. Historical documents include photos, maps, private papers, corporate records, diaries and secondary sources of history. Future historians will appreciate the records left behind.

No one article can deal with the thousands of artifacts in these two very different museums. Plan on spending at least three to four hours immersed in space and Vancouver history. Since they have no restaurant on-site, bring a picnic basket and enjoy Vanier Park and English Bay, which are both nearby.