Museum has history licked with interactive stamp and bank notes display

Students and teacher Dianne Hutton swiping through the centuries of engraving and printing history on the large format timeline touch panel. – Lucie Roy Photos

by Lucie Roy

Voices From the Engraver is an exhibition produced by the Bank of Canada’s Museum in partnership with the Canadian Museum of History. The exhibit will be in Morinville at the Musée Morinville Museum until Aug. 22.

Sir Sanford Fleming designed Canada’s first postage stamp in 1851, referred to as the three penny beaver. It was the world’s first official stamp to depict an animal rather than an authority figure.

Morinville Historical & Cultural Society Director Murray Knight said the new exhibit is a feather in the hat for the museum.

“There are only two places in Alberta to get it – Okotoks and us,” Knight said. “That is pretty impressive for us guys. We feel very fortunate to have this [exhibit] Voices from the Engraver here.”

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Museum Operations Attendant Donna Garrett echoed the same sentiment. “We are very fortunate to have it in the community, and we hope everyone takes advantage of this temporary exhibit,” she said. “It is great for kids, moms and dads. The kids can make great guilloche patterns with the four-seater Spirograph-style drawing station.”

Georges H. Primeau Grade 5 students from Dianne Hutton’s class were the first to be at the Musée Morinville Museum to tour Voices From the Engraver. Teacher Dianne Hutton said all Grade 5s were to tour the new exhibit June 6.

“One of the things kids have to do is interact with history so they are coming here today, checking everything out, and a week or so after they will be making a paper currency to represent something in Morinville history,” Hutton said.

The students were busy during the tour with the many stations of the new exhibit, including the biographies of the engravers, history of bank note design, browsing through Canadian bank notes and stamps, the security features, tools and printing plates, and the story behind Fleming’s first stamp.

Student Hannah Geldart was one of the first students to check things out. “We have to take notes and draw and put our ideas on the paper,” she said.

The museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from noon until 5 p.m.

Above right: Hannah Geldart looking at the display on the Canadian Journey series $20 bill, the 2004 Bank Note of the Year awarded by the International Bank Note Society.

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4 Comments

  1. Great exhibit. Nice that the article acknowledged the International Bank Note Society and its Bank Note of the Year award. The Canadian Journey series $20 was actually the 2004 Bank Note of the Year (not 2005). Murray Hanewich, Region 1 Director – International Bank Note Society

  2. The year 2005 was from the display board “A Tiny Tapestry” and is in the first line. The sentence reads, “The Canadian Journey series $20 bill : the 2005 Bank Note of the Year (It really is-awarded by the International Bank Note Society).

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