Courtenay & District Museum




  • Upcoming Lecture
  • Canada Day Open House
  • Kids Costumes Wanted
  • Printer Donation
  • Guided Fossil Tours
  • Summer Kidscamps
  • Photo of the Month




  • Phone:
    1-250-334-0686

    Email:
    museum@island.net

    Website:
    www.courtenaymuseum.ca

    Mailing Address:
    207 Fourth Street,
    Courtenay BC,
    V9N 1G7





    Monday to Saturday
    10am - 5pm

    Sunday:
    12pm - 4pm

    Statutory Holidays:
    11am - 4pm





    President
    John Wilson

    Vice President
    Daryl Wright

    Past President
    April Shopland

    Secretary/Treasurer
    Elizabeth Braithwaite

    Directors
    Ruth Masters
    Rick Ross
    Jim Haggart
    Ross Dingwall
    Sharon Nelson

    Member of...

    British Columbia Museums Association

    Canadian Museums
    Association

    Archives Association of
    British Columbia

    Heritage Society of British Columbia





      Upcoming Lecture


    7:30 pm, Tuesday, June 24th

    Author Dr. Betty Donaldson will present a multi-media lecture on The McLoughlin Correspondents, With Great Affection: Letters Between a Brother and Sister During the Fur Trade Era on Tuesday, June 24th at 7:30 pm in the Courtenay Museum.

    Learn about John McLoughlin - the man who was Sir James Douglas’ mentor; why the 49th Parallel is the boundary between Canada and the USA, and what life was like for pre-colonial fur traders along the West Coast.

    Donaldson is enthusiastic about her topic and will present related illustrations, recordings of voyageur music and readings from her book. She has published videos, newspaper columns and award-winning academic articles and books. A love of canoeing drew her into studying the fur trade era.

    Tickets are $6 for general public; $5 for museum members; $2 for SD 71 students. Advance tickets are recommended.

    Copies of Donaldson's book will be available for purchase and signing after the talk.

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    Canada Day Open House


    On July 1st, come out to the Courtenay and District Museum and celebrate Canada's one hundred and forty-first birthday! There will be free admission, door prizes and a variety of special activities between 11 am and 4 pm. While enjoying the festivities, explore the local history of the Comox Valley in our current social history exhibit "Open to the Public" (closes July 12th) and go back eighty million years in time as you view the fabulous fossils in the palaeontology collection!

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    Kids Costumes Wanted


    The museum is looking for donations for a children’s dress-up area that will be part of our next temporary display.

    The exhibit "Out of the Ordinary, Sid Williams: His Life; His Community" will include a hands-on an area for kids to try on "costumes".

    Suitable item donations can include:

    • Purses
    • Bangles/bracelets
    • Clip-on earrings
    • Shawls
    • Vests
    • Shoes
    • Necklaces
    • Wands/props/canes
    • Jackets
    • Uniforms
    • Eye glasses
    • Tu-tus

    No hats, please.

    If you have clean items in decent repair which might be fun for the small fry to try on please drop them off at the museum by July 14th. But be warned – items will not be returned to donors at the end of the exhibit.

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    Printer Donation


    Our thanks are extended to the Comox Valley Family History Research Group for their recent donation to the archives.

    The group purchased a brand new shiny Lexmark Laser Printer to compliment the December 2007 microfilm reader and monitor donated by the Bickle family and the Comox Valley Echo, respectively.

    The Family History donation will allow for high quality prints to be made from the newspaper microfilm archives. The printer has already proven itself to be an asset for researchers.

    C.V. Family History Research Group members can often be seen in the archives area continuing their task of compiling all births, marriages and deaths that have appeared in our local papers.

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    Guided Fossil Tours


    Your adventure begins in the Courtenay and District Museum and Palaeontology Center. Here, a friendly and informative guide will give a brief lecture and show a short video about the famous discoveries made in the local area. Then, it's off into the exhibit galleries to see the actual specimen and reconstructed cast of an Elasmosaur found in the Puntledge river. You'll also see other vertebrate fossils, such as mosasaurs, turtles, and fish -along with the invertebrate fossils of shelled creatures that lived in the warm, shallow ocean surrounding Vancouver Island 80 million years ago.

    A short 10 minute drive and an easy 5 minute forested walk brings you to one of the many beautiful fossil sites along the Puntledge river. Here, you'll experience the thrill of hands-on discovery. After a brief discussion about the history of the site and proper collection techniques, participants will have a chance to find a fossil of their very own. A limited number of hammers, chisels and goggles will be supplied. You can keep any fossils that you find on the tour. If the species is of scientific value, you may be asked to donate the fossil to the museum collection, with the finder's name attached.

    These tours are twice daily throughout July and August, with start times of 9:00am or 1:00pm. Pre-booking is required. Please visit our website for more details or to book online.

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    Summer Kidscamps


    The Courtenay Museum will be hosting four different children's Palaeontology programmes throughout the summer for participants ages 5 to 12. Each programme may be taken on it's own or combine all four to create the ultimate Palaeontology experience! Please see our website for more details.

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    Photo of the Month


    CDM #991.138.1
    E.W. Theatre, Fifth St. and England Avenue

    You can view more photos like this on our website. Click here to visit our holdings.

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