Are you looking to help preserve, present, and learn about the history of the North Peace Region of British Columbia? There are many ways you can do this from volunteering to becoming a member of the North Peace Historical Society.
Annual memberships are very inexpensive and entitle you to visit the museum as many times as you want in that year. This is great as we host and develop special exhibits throughout the year. Funds from membership help with exhibits, events, programs, caring for our collection, and improving the information about our collection.
If you are a business, consider becoming a corporate member of the museum. Corporate members are issued tax receipts for their donation as well as quarterly reports and a membership certificate. Their businesses are listed as supporters on the museum’s website. Corporate members help preserve, store, present, and exhibit artefacts, photographs, documents, and archaeological artefacts.
Contact the museum at 250-787-0430 or fsjnpmuseum@fsjmail.com to find out more!
Archives & Collections
We’ve responded to 40 archival inquiries so far this year from land records to genealogy to photographs. We’re here to help you learn more about the history of your community and family. Most of the archival services we offer are free if you come into the museum with minimal charges for photocopies and photographs, and inquiries longer than 30 minutes requiring staff/volunteer time.
Our archival volunteers have been busy organizing our newspaper collection this month as well as scanning information about past and present residents and improving the database records of our historic photographs.
Upcoming Events
• Cemetery Tour: Alaska Highway Edition, Friday, May 25 at 7 p.m. at the Fort St. John Cemetery
Join us for a guided cemetery tour of the Fort St. John Cemetery on 100 Ave. Learn about the connection of many of the people buried there to the Alaska Highway. From construction workers to entrepreneurs to ambulance drivers, the cemetery is full of people who worked and lived along the highway. Tour is $10 and can be paid at the gate of the cemetery prior to the tour. This is not a scary tour! We share stories (humorous, informative, and sometimes sad) about these people and the history of the highway while standing by their graves. It is not a ghost tour!
• Book Presentation: Elinor Florence’s Wildwood, Tuesday, May 29 at 7 p.m. at the museum
Join Saskatchewan author Elinor Florence as she presents her new novel Wildwood, set in the Peace River country. It tells the story of a single mother from the city whospends one year living in an abandoned off-the-grid farmhouse in order to claim her inheritance. With grim determination, Molly teaches herself the basic pioneer skills, but her greatest perils come from the brutal wilderness. Only the journal written by her great-aunt, the land’s original homesteader, inspires her to struggle on. Using old photographs, Elinor will present a one-hour slide show describing her historical research and telling some interesting anecdotes. Free admission. Donations welcome. Books can be purchased through the museum gift shop and signed by the author.
• Grand Opening of the Doc Kearney Solar Prints Exhibit, Saturday, June 2 at 3 p.m. at the museum
This summer, we are pleased to host a special exhibit featuring solar prints of Dr. Kearney, our second doctor in Fort St. John. This exhibit is guest curated by Oshawa, Ontario artist, Margaret Rodgers, Dr. Kearney’s niece. Join Margaret for her exhibit opening, learn more about Dr. Kearney, and discover the process of solar printing. Free admission. Donations welcome.
• Book Presentation: Sarah Cox’s Breaching the Peace, Tuesday, June 5 at 7 p.m. at the museum
Join award-winning journalist Sarah Cox at the museum for a presentation on her book about the farmers and First Nations who fought against the Site C Dam. Free admission. Donations welcome. Books can be purchased through the museum gift shop and signed by the author.
• Book Presentation: Erin Moure’s A Century in the North Peace, Saturday, June 9 at 3 p.m. at the museum
The people of the North Peace, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, have seen many changes over the last century. Anne Callison remembers it all from the trapline to the Alaska Highway and from farming to the oil boom. A Century in the North Peace shines light on the people who lived through these changes from the lens of Anne Callison and her husband, John. The stories of many famed figures such as pilot Pat Calilson and George Behn, former Grand Chief of the Treaty 8 Tribal Association appear in this book. Join Erin Moure and Anne Callison for a book launch at reading at the Fort St. John North Peace Museum. Free admission. Donations welcome. Books can be purchased through the museum gift shop and signed by the author.
Exhibits
What’s in the Bag Nursing Exhibit
April 2018 – November 2018 at the Fort St. John Hospital
This free exhibit looks at the contents of the nursing bag belonging to our first nurse, Anne (Roberts) Young. It explains what some of the contents are from soap and scrub brush for sanitation to forceps, syringes, medicine, and more. Check it out the next time you are in the hospital lobby. It's up until November thanks to our partnership with the FSJ Hospital Arts Committee.
Oil Rig Exhibit
New Permanent Exhibit at the museum
Unless you work in the oil and gas industry, most of us don’t get a chance to see an oil well site up close. Using a model assembled by a teacher from Northern Lights College, this exhibit explains how oil is extracted and outlines the role of each part and building in the extraction process.
Ichthyosaurs
Now through January 2019 at the museum
The name ichthyosaur means fish lizard in Greek. It wasn’t a dinosaur; it was a marine reptile that lived during the Jurassic Period. The largest ichthyosaur to be fully unearthed was one found at Pink Mountain in the 1990s. It was 23 metres long! Learn more about these reptiles through fossilized remains, images, and fun facts.
Heather Sjoblom is manager and curator of the Fort St. John North Peace Museum.
