Imagining Summer Gardens
Daly House’s latest exhibit in time for spring is “ Imagining Summer Gardens: Images from the A.E. McKenzie Visual Archive”.
In the first two decades of the twentieth century A.E. McKenzie made Brandon the home of prairie horticulture through his commercial seed company. He built the company on cheap labour and highly creative marketing and appeals to human imagination through a highly visual catalogue. McKenzie's catalogue - the Annual - was distributed across the prairie west: 2,000 customers in 1900 had grown to 50,000 in 1905.
It featured striking images, the work of highly skilled commercial artists. The 1905 Annual featured Mother Nature spreading seeds; in the 1906 Annual western Autonomy and the creation of Saskatchewan and Alberta was celebrated. In the 1908 Annual, A.E could proclaim his company Western Canada’s Greatest Seed House.
The products presented in the pages of the Annual were often the work of McKenzie's predominantly female workforce, the cheapest labor available. Turn of the century employment opportunities for women in the paid economy were limited and generally poorly paid. McKenzie also employed field labor and kept his costs down drawing from a growing pool of unskilled immigrant labour.
The Daly House Museum is delighted to present a selection of images from the A.E. McKenzie visual archive held at the Daly House Museum and the S.J. McKee Archives. Daly House is also the home to the early equipment used by McKenzie Seeds.
The equipment on display includes a Brown Bag Seed Packaging machine, adding machines, dictaphones, and addressographs. The compelling images - highly stylized catalogue covers and graphic images of company operations including McKenzie's workforce and the equipment used - provide insights into how A.E. McKenzie built one of western Canada's most successful early twentieth century's commercial and industrial companies. The exhibit will be on display from April 6 to October 12, 2019
Upcoming Exhibits & Events
- April– September — Imagining Summer Gardens: Images from the A.E. McKenzie Visual Archives
- April 19, 2019—Daly House Museum closed for Good Friday Holiday
- May 13, 2019—June 22, 2019 - Pictures of Nursing Exhibit
- November 2019 - Remembering the Great War Exhibit
Follow us on Facebook for more information about these exhibits and events
WE’VE RAISED $7000.00 SO FAR!
Daly House Museum is excited to be participating in the Manitoba Heritage Trust Program.
We have partnered with Brandon Area Community Foundation to established this permanently endowed Manitoba Heritage Trust Fund to support our work in preserving the Brandon’s heritage.
Until March 31, 2021, the Province of Manitoba will stretch gifts to this fund. Every $2 given during this period has the potential to be stretched by an additional $1, to a maximum of $170,000, this means a gift of $2 becomes $3.
The program, initiated by The Province of Manitoba, is administered by The Winnipeg Foundation with support from the Association of Manitoba Museums and the Association for Manitoba Archives.
Thanks to generous donors we have reached over $7000.00 in the fund! We hope to reach $10,000.00 before the year is out!
Please help us to continue to preserve and show case Brandon’s heritage for future generations by contributing to our Heritage Trust Fund you can contribute at www.endowmanitoba.ca/heritage-funds/ Look for the Brandon (Daly) Museum Fund.
You can also call the Winnipeg Foundation at 1-877-974-3631 or send a cheque made out to the Winnipeg Foundation ( Brandon (Daly) Museum Fund and send it to The Winnipeg Foundation 1350 One Lombard Place Winnipeg, MB CANADA R3B 0X3
Farewell to Jeanne Mustard
It is with sadness that Daly House bids farewell to long time volunteer Jeanne Mustard.
Jeanne began volunteering with Daly House Museum’s A-team in 2008. Jeanne took on the duty of President of the A-Team not long after joining the group. She also assisted our curator Eileen with school tours, and other Museum related activities. We will miss Jeanne but wish her the best of luck in her new home in British Columbia.
Left: Jeanne poses with the thread painting of Daly House Museum by Sylvia Barr. The needlework was given as a going away present from the Museum Board & Staff.
Daly House Gets Student Volunteers
By Jenna Murray, BU Student Volunteer
For the winter term this year at Brandon University, Dr. Rhonda Hinther offered an online course called Museums. In this course, students learned about various aspects of museum studies such as discussions around repatriation, different types of jobs offered by museums and what education was needed for them, the development of museums, and much more. The course was split into weekly readings, questions, and responses. The course also had an assignment component. Students were allowed to choose between some projects Dr. Hinther had found from her various museum contacts, or to do 20 volunteer hours at a museum of their choice. Four of the students chose to volunteer at the Daly House Museum. At the museum the students have been engaged in various projects. I have been sorting through archival material and working on creating finding aids for it. Others have been doing similar projects, updating where material is located in the computer database, or helping take down the exhibit that recently concluded. One of the student volunteers, Whitney Hodgins, noted that while volunteering can be demanding, it is a great opportunity to get hands on learning in the history field. She also found that her volunteer experience has allowed her to practice using skills and information learned in class. Whitney has been doing a mixture of different things at the museum, like giving tours, helping with exhibits, social media promotion and cataloging.
HerStory & the Annual Dinner
On Saturday March 9th, the Daly House held our annual fundraising dinner which featured a play by the Assiniboine Theatre Company entitled “Her Story” in honor of International Women’s Day. The play focused on the accomplishments and struggles of notable Canadian women such as Mary Pickford, Agnes McPhail, Emily Carr, Viola Desmond and Brandon’s own Kaye Rowe. The women were interviewed by CBC’s Barbara Frum. Thank you to Ken Jackson, who wrote and directed the play and to the cast members— Andrew Mok, Rebecca Porteaus, Karen Chrest, Bob Brereton, Shannon Salterelli, Marilyn Hardy, and Elinor Thompson—for your wonderful portrayals of these women and their histories.
Attendees at the event were treated to a delicious roast beef dinner, wine, a 50/50 draw and door prizes from local businesses including Swiss Chalet/Harveys, Montana's, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Safeway. The 50/50 draw raised $444.00 and the winner of the draw was Daly House Board Member Fran Perrin. Fran generously donated her $222.00 winning back to Daly House Museum’s Heritage Trust Fund. The Province of Manitoba will add a $1.00 for every dollar contributed to the fund over the next three years. Thank you Fran for your generous gift to Daly House!
In the Collection
Recently thanks to the assistance of Leah Stephens, who volunteered with us for the Brandon University’s Museums course, we discovered a treasure in our archives. A scrapbook from the Brandon Ladies Curling Club containing a wealth of photographs from the early days of women’s curling in Brandon.
The Brandon Ladies Curling Club was formed October 1. 1952. The club’s first executive was Mrs. Florence Lee (president), Mrs. Hattie Allen (secretary), and Rose Donohue (Draw Clerk). The club joined the Manitoba Ladies Curling Association shortly after formation. In 1955 they became affiliated with the Brandon Men's Curling Club. The Ladies Club continues to operate out of the Brandon Curling Club at the Keystone Centre.
The scrapbook includes this photograph of a Brandon Ladies Curling Rink in a Winnipeg Bonspiel in early 1930s. Pictured left to right: Mrs. (Pinto) Thompson, Mrs. Annie Hulme, Mrs. Reid, Miss Lottie Jones. Note the boxes in the background. In those days, you had to carry your rocks with you.
Valentine's Day Dinner Raffle Winners
On February 14th, the winners of Daly House's Valentine's Day Dinner Raffle, Tanya Lasher and her partner, enjoyed a delicious prime rib dinner in the historic ambiance of the Museum.
The Museum's fundraising committee members Fran Perrin and Cheryl Shumay decorated the Museum's dining room to create a romantic setting.
Thank you to Albert's Bistro for providing the delicious meal.
BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!
Membership Benefits include:
- Free Admission to the Museum
- Four issues of our quarterly newsletter
- 10% off in the Museum Gift Shop
- Advance notification of new exhibits & events
- Eligibility for service on the Board of Directors
- Voting priviledges at the Annual General Meeting
- Tax receipt for the full cost of your annual membership fee
We offer 5 levels of membership to choose from!
Friend Level
- Individual ($20.00); Senior ($15.00); Family ($35.00)
- Includes membership benefits listed above
Sponsor Level ($60.00)
- Includes membership benefits listed above and
- Two additional free admission tickets for friends/family
Patron (Family $120.00)
- Includes the membership benefits listed above and
- Four additional free admission tickets for friends/family
- Certificate of Recognition
Builder (Family $300.00)
- Includes membership benefits listed above and
- Six additional free admission tickets for friends/family
- Certificate of Recognition
Benefactor (Family $500.00)
- Includes membership benefits listed above
- Six additional free admission tickets for friends/family
- One free membership for the individual of your choice (can be upgraded to family for $15.00)
- Certificate of Recognition
Download our membership application form by clicking on the link below
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