Our human relationship to the natural world has a past that is also preserved on the land. It can be seen in the cairns and cliff at Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump, or where farmers' fields have replaced former grasslands. It is even apparent in the slag heaps remaining at the sites of old mining communities.

This shared past can also be found preserved in archival diaries, letters, reports, ledgers, photographs and films. In this exhibit, these kinds of evidence demonstrate how we can explore natures past by using materials preserved in the Provincial Archives of Alberta.

Travelling exhibit from the PAA.

Image: Provincial Archives of Alberta, A11710: Stettler Main Street. July 25, 1930. Photographer: F. McCurlie.

The exhibit showcases photographic work of the A.E. Cross Studio from the 1920s to 1960s. The images fall into three categories - commercial work, portraits, and city scapes.

Image: A. E. Cross Studio Fonds: Hockey Series: Lethbridge Native Sons: Freddy Brown, Right Winger, 1946-47.
19941051190

Many opportunities for a new life opened in southern Alberta in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Immigrants from countries around the world came to farm or ranch, work in the coal mines or logging camps, and establish businesses in the developing towns.

Their early years were captured in photographs and many years later their descendents remember their heritage with celebrations of traditional dress, food and music.

Grand Old 76
until FEB 26.12
Lower Level Hallway

Photos and documents tells the story of the 76 Ranch in southern Alberta, founded by Sir John Lister Kay in 1888 along the Canadian Pacific Railway line. It covered huge sections of land on which he built 10 model farms complete with houses, barns, hay, horses, cattle and sheep.

Developed by the Esplanade Museum in Medicine Hat with the assistance of the Swift Current Museum, David Spencer of Medicine Hat AB, Glenbow Archives, Calgary AB., the Gull Lake Museum, Gull Lake SK., Jim Smart, Saskatchewan Landing SK, the Needham family, Piapot SK and Raymond Olson, Maple Creek SK

Image: Courtesy Esplanade Archives, 0480-0003

Artists Legacy
MAR 03 - APR 22.12
Lower Level Hallway

A group of local artists founded the Lethbridge Sketch Club (now the Lethbridge Artists Club) on October 7, 1936 and it flourished through the energy and talents of such artists as:

• Annabelle MacKenzie
• P.J. Collins
• Mike Pisko
• E.E. Riethman
• E.F. Hagell
• P.H. Henson

Early stimulus for a growing art community came from artist and art teacher, Edith F. Kirk who lived in Lethbridge from 1918 until her death in 1953. The organization continues to foster art and artists in southern Alberta, providing classes, retreats, sales and exhibitions.