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Paleogene sediments of the Huntingdon Formation, a correlative to the Chuckanut Formation of neighbouring Washington State, USA, are exposed in the Greater Vancouver area, British Columbia, Canada. Palynology and plant macrofossils suggest the Kanaka Creek section is Paleocene rather than Eocene in age. Detrital zircon dating is less decisive, yet indicates the Kanaka rocks are no older than Maastrichtian. Analyses of plant macro- and micro-fossils suggest an early to middle Paleocene age for the Kanaka fossil flora. Paleocene indicators include macrofossils such as Platanus bella, Archeampelos, Hamamelites inequalis, and Ditaxocladus, and pollen taxa such as Paraalnipollenites, Triporopollenites mullensis, and Duplopollis. Paleogene taxa such as Woodwardia maxonii, Macclintockia, and Glyptostrobus dominate the flora. Fungal spores including the Late Cretaceous Pesavisparva and the Paleogene Pesavis tagluensis are notable age indicators. Physiognomy of 41 angiosperm leaf morphotypes from Kanaka Creek yields mean annual temperatures in the microthermal to lower mesothermal range (11.2 [+ or -] 4.3 to 14.6 [+ or -] 2.7 [degrees]C from leaf margin analysis; 14.8 [+ or -] 2.1 [degrees]C from Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program), with mild winters (cold month mean temperature 3.9 [+ or -] 3.4 [degrees]C). Paleoclimate was cooler than the upper Paleocene and Eocene members of the Chuckanut Formation. Mean annual precipitation is estimated at ~140 cm with large uncertainties. The Kanaka paleoflora is reconstructed as a mixed conifer-broadleaf forest, sharing common taxa with other western North American Paleocene floras and growing in a temperate moist climate. Kanaka Creek is a rare coastal Paleocene plant locality that provides new insights into coastal vegetation and climate prior to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Key words: Paleocene, paleobotany, palynology, paleoclimate, Huntingdon Formation, Kanaka Creek. Résumé : Des sédiments paléogènes de la Formation d'Huntingdon, une formation corrélative de la Formation de Chuckanut de l'État voisin de Washington (États-Unis), sont exposés dans la région de Vancouver (Colombie-Britannique, Canada). La palynologie et les macrofossiles de plantes donnent à penser que la coupe de Kanaka Creek est d'âge paléocène plutôt qu'éocène. Si la datation de zircons détritiques est moins concluante, elle indique toutefois que l'âge des roches de Kanaka n'est pas plus vieux que le Maastrichtien. Des analyses de macro- et microfossiles de plantes indiqueraient un âge paléocène précoce à moyen pour la flore fossile de Kanaka. Parmi les indicateurs paléocènes figurent des macrofossiles tels que Platanus bella, Archeampelos, Hamamelites inequalis et Ditaxocladus et des taxons de pollen tels que Paraalnipollenites, Triporopollenites mullensis et Duplopollis. Des taxons paléogènes comme Woodwardia maxonii, Macclintockia et Glyptostrobus sont dominants dans la flore. Des spores fongiques comprenant Pesavis parva d'âge crétacé tardif et Pesavis tagluensis d'âge paléogène sont des indicateurs d'âge notables. L'analyse physionomique de 41 morphotypes de feuilles d'angiosperme de Kanaka Creek produit des températures annuelles moyennes dans une fourchette allant de microthermique à mésothermique inférieure (de 11,2 [+ ou -] 4,3 [degré]C à 14,6 [+ ou -] 2,7 [degré]C obtenues de l'analyse de bordures de feuille, LMA; 14,8 [+ ou -] 2,1 [degré]C obtenue de CLAMP), avec des hivers doux (température moyenne des mois froids : 3,9 [+ or -] 3,4 [degré]C). Le paléoclimat était plus frais que ce qu'enregistrent les membres paléocène supérieur et éocène de la Formation de Chuckanut. Les précipitations annuelles moyennes sont estimées à ~140 cm, avec d'importantes incertitudes. La reconstitution de la paléoflore de Kanaka donne une forêt mixte à conifères-caducifoliés ayant des taxons en commun avec d'autres flores paléocènes de l'ouest de l'Amérique du Nord et croissant dans un climat tempéré humide. Kanaka Creek est une rare localité de plantes paléocènes côtières qui fournit de nouveaux renseignements sur la végétation et le climat côtiers avant le maximum thermique du passage Paléocène/Éocène. [Traduit par la Rédaction] Mots-clés : Paléocène, paléobotanique, palynologie, paléoclimat, Formation d'Huntingdon, Kanaka Creek., Introduction The main objectives of this paper are to assess the age assignment and paleoclimate of the Kanaka Creek paleoflora, southwestern British Columbia, Canada, using plant macrofossils as well as [...]

This article explores the development of public programs on the theme of grief, death and dying at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Canada, and how these programs have grown with the involvement of community partners. Although the programs started as a response to a small historic sign in the gallery, they now honor the interests of our visitors and the museum provides a space for community reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We survey the known avian fossils from Ypresian (early Eocene) fossil sites of the North American Okanagan Highlands, mainly in British Columbia (Canada). All specimens represent taxa that were previously unknown from the Eocene of far-western North America. Wings from the McAbee site are tentatively referred to the Gaviiformes and would constitute the earliest fossil record of this group of birds. A postcranial skeleton from Driftwood Canyon is tentatively assigned to the Songziidae, a taxon originally established for fossils from the Ypresian of China. Two skeletons from Driftwood Canyon and the McAbee site are tentatively referred to Coliiformes and Zygodactylidae, respectively, whereas three further fossils from McAbee, Blakeburn, and Republic (Washington, USA) are too poorly preserved for even a tentative assignment. The specimens from the Okanagan Highlands inhabited relatively high paleoaltitudes with microthermal climates (except Quilchena: lower mesothermal) and mild winters, whereas most other Ypresian fossil birds are from much warmer lowland paleoenvironments with upper mesothermal to megathermal climates. The putative occurrence of a gaviiform bird is particularly noteworthy because diving birds are unknown from other lacustrine Ypresian fossil sites of the Northern Hemisphere. The bones of the putative zygodactylid show a sulphurous colouration, and we hypothesize that this highly unusual preservation may be due to the metabolic activity of sulphide-oxidizing bacteria. Key words: aves, diagenesis, fossil birds, systematics, taxonomy. Nous avons passe en revue les fossiles aviens connus de localites fossiliferes de l'Ypresien (Eocene precoce) des hautes terres de l'Okanagan nord-americaines, principalement en Colombie-Britannique (Canada). Tous les specimens representent des taxons inconnus jusqu'ici dans l'Eocene de la bordure ouest de l'Amerique du Nord. Des ailes provenant de la localite de McAbee sont provisoirement affectees aux gaviiformes et constitueraient les specimens fossiles les plus anciens de ce groupe d'oiseaux. Un squelette postcranien provenant de Driftwood Canyon est provisoirement affecte aux songziides, un taxon etabli a l'origine sur la base de fossiles de l'Ypresien de Chine. Deux squelettes de Driftwood Canyon et de la localite de McAbee sont provisoirement affectes aux coliiformes et aux zygodactylides, respectivement, alors que trois autres fossiles des localites de McAbee, Blakeburn et Republic (Etat de Washington, Etats-Unis) sont trop mal preserves pour permettre une affectation meme provisoire. Les specimens des hautes terres de l'Okanagan habitaient des paleolatitudes relativement hautes caracterisees par des climats microthermaux (sauf Quilchena : mesothermal inferieur) et des hivers doux, alors que la plupart des autres oiseaux fossiles ypresiens occupaient des paleomilieux de basses terres beaucoup plus chauds caracterises par des climats mesothermaux a megathermaux. La presence putative d'un oiseau gaviiforme est particulierement notable, parce que des oiseaux plongeurs ne sont pas connus d'autres localites fossiliferes ypresiennes lacustres de l'hemisphere nord. Les os du zygodactylide putatif presentent une coloration sulfureuse, et nous postulons que ce mode de preservation tres inhabituel pourrait etre le fait de l'activite metabolique de bacteries oxydant les sulfures. Mots-cles : oiseaux, diagenese, oiseaux fossiles, systematique, taxonomie., Introduction Ypresian (early Eocene) bird fossils are known from several localities in Europe and North America (Mayr 2009a, 2017a) and some of these sites, such as Messel in Germany and [...]

This article examines the Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project (PCLP), a partnership project between the Royal British Columbia Museum and the South Asian Studies Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, as a case study of heritage from below. The project is based on community action research and practices, joining forces of memory, research, and community institutions, organisations, and groups. Considering 'heritagisation' as a process of heritage building, and drawing on their experience as practitioners on this project, the authors argue for the need to consider the vast diversities within and among communities, and the need to work on 'heritagisation' through ongoing dialogic engagement. Through a myriad of continuous dialogues and inherent challenges, the process and progress of the PCLP is shaped by this dialogic engagement. As an ongoing project, the PCLP demonstrates how a network extended to diverse participants with shared goals can emerge through the organically developed heritagisation process encouraged by the partners' collaborative efforts in an experimental model for community work by memory and research institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implications of the categorical separation between Nature, Culture and History that is common in Western museums. It focuses on the Royal British Columbia Museum's (RBCM) configuration of galleries, which separates, first, the human from the natural world, and, second, First Peoples from modern history. With the basic structure of its galleries remaining largely unchanged since the 1970s, but with significant alterations and additions, the RBCM is a palimpsest whose layers can be read in relation to the changing sociopolitical contexts and hegemonic ideals through which British Columbia has been imagined and represented. Its division of Nature, Culture and History represents a perspective entangled with European colonialism, but also offers opportunities for contesting colonial legacies and rethinking what these categories might mean. By adding new layers that engage with the earlier interpretive strategies, the Museum both contributes to and acts as a site for ongoing conversations that connect past and present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM), Canada, houses a collection of almost 7 million artifacts, archival records, and natural history specimens. Three comprehensive collection risk assessments over the past decade have resulted in improvements to the physical environments of the collections as well as new policies and procedures to reduce risk. However, there remain ongoing risks that can only be mitigated through major facility renewal. The last collection risk assessment, completed in 2016, was revisited to review the data and build a defensible case for funding to replace the RBCM's on-site collection storage facilities. Changes to overall collections risk is a complex function of collection development and use trends, evolving risk factors both internal and external to the museum, a growing understanding of the relationship between risks and preservation, in addition to reduction due to risk mitigation projects and building systems aging and wearing out. A defensible method for illustrating the facilities-related risks over time involves estimating the expected loss of individual collection items or loss in value of a group of items that may occur if a major facility upgrade or redevelopment is not realized in the near future. Risk assessment data for representative collection units were reviewed to differentiate risk due to permanent facility characteristics versus more active controls, operations budget controlled risk versus capital budget controlled risk, and collection management-controlled risk versus facility management-controlled risk. This enabled the risk model to isolate risks that could only be mitigated through major facility upgrades. Change in collection value was expressed as Object Equivalents Lost (OEL) and its compliment Object Equivalents Remaining (OER). Projections into the future indicating the effect of varying facility renewal dates could then be clearly shown. Losses, when presented as numbers of items expected to be lost from the collection, become emotionally salient to persons in senior management and governance roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013, as part of 'A Chinatown Celebration,' a month-long festival celebrating Canada's oldest Chinatown, the Royal BC Museum (RBCM) mounted a temporary exhibition Tradition in Felicities: Celebrating 155 Years of Victoria's Chinatown (TiF) (Figure 1). The exhibit also celebrated the Chinese Freemasons' 150th anniversary in Canada. TiF featured a unique centerpiece: a handcrafted lantern created in the 1930s by Victoria's Chinese Freemasons, one of the oldest Chinese organizations in Canada (Figure 2). It is the oldest-known such lantern in North America and Southeast Asia. 'Objects,' as scholars of material culture point out, 'help [people] to know, understand, and situate [them]selves within the world, both externally and internally'(Clouse 2008: 6). The connections of objects to lived experiences render them historically and culturally meaningful. In tracing the history of the lantern, we consulted both members of the Chinese Freemasons, including elder Jon Joe who helped to identify the names listed on the lantern, and Chinatown's former residents and descendants, in accordance with the RBCM's practice of multicultural community outreach and participation. This lantern engages diverse audiences and inspires a cross-cultural aesthetic appreciation through its Chinese, trans-Pacific, international and Canadian connections. Handcrafted in Victoria by a master from Hong Kong, the lantern is based on the classic Chinese tradition of the running horse lantern, which is more than 2000 years old. The top panels present the Chinese Freemasons' international icon; in the middle are intricate moving details in Chinese calligraphy couplets and paintings in the traditional running horse lantern design; and, on the base, a list of local sponsors and contributors. A diagram within the exhibition explained the different elements of the lantern in detail. The top and bottom panels convey the artifact's connection to local and regional history. The Chinese Freemasons' westernized icon reveals its transformation from a secret society in Qing China to an international society of Chinese Freemasons after entering the Americas, indicative of the transnational context of the migrant culture in Chinatowns. The bottom panels epitomize the composition of Victoria's Chinatown: long-term businesses, settled resident families who developed roots in Canada, and a few sojourners who eventually returned to their birthplaces in China. For a provincial museum such as the Royal BC Museum (RBCM), where I am a curator, one of our mandates is education -- to share knowledge about British Columbia with the world. At the same time, increasingly complex cross-cultural and transnational perspectives reflect concerns for broadening the framework of knowledge sharing and museum education in a multicultural context. The new framework allows us to examine cultures informed by both the concept of globalization, as the homogenizing effect of integrated market capitalism often associated with multinational corporations, and the 'hybridities and fluidities' of the transnational aspect of this world system from multidirectional contacts between nations, cultures and individuals. The TiF project can be used as a case study of museum education from transnational perspectives, to address Klaus Müller's question: 'can museums propose or even help shape a different model of a global society than the one being advanced by multinational corporations?' (2003) Through sharing, and raising the awareness of, local, diverse, 'hybrid' and previously hidden stories of a formerly underrepresented group, the Chinese population of Victoria can, through a small exhibit, counter the homogenizing effect of globalization and educate people about social justice through intercultural understandings of other groups' experiences. This group was not presented as a homogenous one. Their stories captured diversities in class and gender and were contextualized to resonate locally, nationally and transnationally. The first section of this essay provides an overview of the integrated process of both multicultural community outreach and engagement, and museum knowledge production and education that advanced the understanding of historical injustice from the perspective of the insiders. The second section examines how this process reunited this previously marginalized group and engaged new transnational audiences. The process inspired educational moments that are unique to museum settings through forging local synergies and revealed in the diverse visitors' feedback. As the Adult Learning Team Lead at RBCM acknowledges, while it is not easy to measure educational outcome in informal settings such as museums, first tier outcomes, in this case the comment book, can be analyzed to get a better sense of whether our long-term goals might be reached. Following the guidelines set out by Inspired Learning for All, the RBCM looks for evidence of exhibits affecting visitor attitudes and values, such as opinions or attitudes towards other people and the RBCM in relation to an experience, and increased capacity for tolerance. These key indicators are measured in this section to understand TiF's educational impact. The third section proposes a continuing cross-cultural educational program as a legacy of the exhibition in the form of a trilingual (English, French, and Chinese) video which, through information and communications technology (ICT), will be available online and in educational institutions, inspiring interest and sharing knowledge not only within the RBCM's walls but also with a wide range of audiences. This ICT project moves museum education beyond institutional walls and tests educational possibilities of museum knowledge. It is a new museum multicultural education initiative, the outcome of which is yet to be measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2002 and 2011, we collected vascular plants from alpine areas of northern British Columbia (B.C.). We have found one species that has not previously been collected in the province: Phippsia algida. Collections of an additional three species represent significant range extensions of species already known to occur in the province: Aphraginus eschscholtzianus, Papaver alboroseum, and Montia bostockii. Our collections of Delphinium brachycentrum initially appeared to be the first records for the province; however, examination of herbarium specimens at the Royal British Columbia Museum herbarium indicated that this species had been collected prior to our field work but had been misidentified. We indicate the distribution of this species in B.C. for the first time, and we present a corrected distribution map for Tephroseris yukonensis that includes our own collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the role museums play in addressing the fundamental question of the excessive size of humanity's footprint on the face of the earth. He explores the Royal British Columbia Museum's voyage into the issue of climate change. The author suggests that humanity is at a crossroad and museums have a vital role in helping people make informed decisions about which turn to take.

Abstract: Laura Peers and Alison Brown in their recent book, Museums and Source Communities, suggest that collaborative relationships established between museums and source communities are contingent on three things: the nature of the source community; the political relationship between the source community and the museum; and the geographical proximity of museums to these communities (2003: 3). In this paper, I add another factor to these three: the unique culture of the individual museum. It draws on research I did on collaborative projects undertaken by the Calgary''s Glenbow Museum and the Blackfoot peoples in southern Alberta and Montana, and the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, BC and the Nuu-chah-nulth people of the West Coast of Vancouver Island. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Focuses on the 'First Peoples' exhibit at the Royal British Columbia Museum (RCBM) in Victoria. View of museums as institutions holding the captured heritage of First Nations cultures; Uniqueness of a First Nations perspective on the exhibit; Notion that objects housed in the display may not be entirely defunct and antiquated; Need to examine museum representations of First Nations cultures.

The article reviews the exhibition Our Living Languages: First People's Voices in British Columbia at the Royal British Columbia Museum in British Columbia that will run until June 2017.

The article discusses the conservation of a Chinese Freemason lantern belonging to the Royal British Columbia Museum in Canada in public as part of a temporary exhibition for the benefit of public outreach. Topics include the Chinese Freemasons organization in Canada; a discussion of running-horse lantern craft, in which heat from the candle moves parts of the lantern, animating depicted scenes; and a discussion of the culture and cultural production of Chinese Canadians in Chinatowns across Canada before widespread racial integration.