New Brunswick Museum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The New Brunswick Museum, located in Saint John, New Brunswick is Canada's oldest continuing museum. The New Brunswick Museum was officially incorporated as the "Provincial Museum" in 1929 and received its current name in 1930, but its history goes back much further. Its lineage can be traced back another eighty-seven years to 1842 and to the work of Dr. Abraham Gesner.
Gesner was born in Cornwallis, N.S., in 1797. His childhood fascination with scientific experiments led him to study in London, England where he became a physician. After only a few years of practice in Nova Scotia, he moved to New Brunswick, in 1837, to become a full-time geologist. In 1838, he became New Brunswick's Provincial Geologist - the first such appointment in Canada. This position lasted until 1842, when Gesner turned to making a living by displaying his collection of rocks, minerals and "curiosities" to the public.
On April 5, 1842, he opened the Museum of Natural History, the original precursor of the New Brunswick Museum, in one room of the Mechanics' Institute on Carleton St. in Saint John. Unfortunately, income from his newly-founded museum was not enough to solve Gesner's financial problems. In 1843, Gesner's collection passed on to his creditors who, in turn, donated it to the Saint John Mechanics' Institute.
Renamed the Mechanics' Institute Museum in 1846, an annual report dating from 1863 described it as, "A large and valuable collection of minerals, a great variety of zoological specimens, and many Chinese, Indian and other curiosities [that] frequently receives additions from foreign sea captains and others who get into their possession foreign articles of an attractive description."
When the Mechanics' Institute closed in 1890, the Natural History Society of New Brunswick acquired the collection and the museum was moved; first to the then new Market Building then, in 1906, to the Union St. location that many Saint John residents still remember. Under the care of its curator and later director, Dr. William McIntosh, the museum's collections and its activities expanded until a new building was essential. In 1934 a proud new Provincial museum facility on Douglas Avenue was officially opened by Prime Minister R.B. Bennett.
As of 1942, the collections, building and properties of the museum officially became the property of the people of New Brunswick. Today, the New Brunswick Museum, a Provincial institution, funded by the Province of New Brunswick, continues to collect, preserve, study and exhibit our cultural and natural heritage. As well as its remarkable natural sciences collection, the museum has expanded to include one of the largest collections of 19th century decorative arts and Canadiana in the Atlantic Provinces.
By 1992, the museum had outgrown its Douglas Avenue location and plans were made to develop new exhibition galleries in a central Saint John location. In April, 1996, the New Brunswick Museum officially opened at Market Square in downtown Saint John. The museum now offers three floors and 60,000 square feet of exhibition spaces and a wide range of public programs. The collections and Archival and Reference Library, as well as Head Office continues to be situated at the Douglas Avenue location.
