Canadian Museum of Nature

Early museum (1856–1968) The Canadian Museum of Nature originates from the collecting efforts of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), an organization established in 1842 in Montreal. In 1856 the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada passed an act that enabled the GSC to establish a museum to exhibit items found from its geological and archaeological field trips; with the museum initially established in Montreal. with the museum formally split from the GSC. Management of the National Museum was transferred from the Department of Mines to the Department of Resources and Development in 1950. The National Museum of Natural Sciences formed a part of the NMC until the organization was dissolved in 1988. The same act also renamed the National Museum of Natural Sciences into the Canadian Museum of Nature. On 22 May 2010, International Day for Biological Diversity, the museum building was reopened to the public. The building's glass tower, or the ''Queens' Lantern'', was dedicated in honour of Queens Victoria and Elizabeth II, with the latter attending the tower's dedication ceremony in June 2010. ==Facilities==

The Canadian Museum of Nature operates two facilities. The Victoria Memorial Museum Building in Ottawa houses the museum's exhibitions and public programs, while its administrative, research and collections facility is situated at the Natural Heritage Centre in Gatineau. Victoria Memorial Museum Building The Victoria Memorial Museum Building in Ottawa houses the museum's exhibitions and galleries and other public programs operated by the museum. The building is located on a property is located in Centretown, a neighbourhood of Ottawa. Situated approximately south of Centre Block on Parliament Hill, the building was initially designed to mirror the Canadian Parliament Buildings as a part of a larger envisioned planned capital. The property is surrounded by several roadways including O'Connor Street to the west, and Metcalfe Street to the east. Metcalfe Street's southern and northern portions also terminate north and south of the building as it detours to the east of the property. The building is the first purpose-built museum building erected in Canada. The theatre company was forced to vacate the space after a fire ravaged Centre Block, forcing the temporary relocation of the parliament to the building until 1920. A glass and steel tower erected in the place of the former central tower was built between 2004 and 2010. The new central tower, named the ''Queens' Lantern'' was formally opened in May 2010. The glass tower houses a butterfly staircase that was installed to improve visitor circulation in the museum. The construction of the Queens' Lantern formed a part of a larger rehabilitation project undertaken by the museum between 2004 and 2010, including a partially below-grade expansion to the south of the building, which included laboratories, the shipping and receiving area, workshops, and a green roof; the latter feature used as an outdoor public gathering place. The area surrounding the building's south-side expansion includes green spaces, a greenhouse, and a live animal display area. Other renovations included extensive redesigns to the exhibitions, seismic and building code upgrades, mechanical and electrical system upgrades, asbestos removal, and repairing and restoring the masonry on the building. Designs for the 2004-2010 renovations, including the Queens' Lantern, was a joint effort between Barry Padolsky Associates Inc., KPMB Architects, and Gagnon Joint Venture Architects; with PCL Construction contracted to renovate and build the expansion. Materials used to erect the building include Tyndall stone, steel frames, reinforced concrete, stone exterior cladding, and sandstone. Most of the sandstone used in the building was quarried from Nepean, Ontario, Wallace, Nova Scotia, and several communities in Quebec. Granite used in the building was quarried from Stanstead, Quebec. Natural Heritage Campus The Natural Heritage Campus houses the museum's administrative offices, scientific facilities, and collection storage. Situated in Gatineau, Quebec, the campus was opened by the museum in 1997. The building itself is , and offers workspaces, in addition to laboratory spaces. The building includes three environmentally controlled "pods," housing 42 individual collection rooms and nine documentation rooms. More than 3,000 cabinets are used in the facility's storage spaces to house the museum's specimens. To help preserve the specimens, none of the storage facilities share a wall with the exterior of the building; with a specially sealed corridor surrounding its storage spaces. ==Exhibitions==

The museum has seven permanent exhibitions at its Victoria Memorial Museum Building. In addition to its permanent exhibitions, the museum also hosts and organizes several travelling exhibitions. diorama in the museum's Mammal Gallery The permanent exhibitions at the museum include the Bird Gallery; with over 500 specimens mounted throughout the gallery, representing over 450 species. Several diorama backgrounds featured in the Bird Gallery were painted by James Perry Wilson. The Mammal Gallery is a gallery centred on mammals found in Canada, and also includes several dioramas painted by Clarence Tillenius during the mid-20th century. The Earth Gallery is a permanent exhibition focused on minerals, rocks, and other geological forces. A goodwill Lunar sample gifted to Canada by the United States is on display in the Earth Gallery. A fairly complete specimen of an Edmontosaurus in the museum's Fossil Gallery was the first specimen to be mounted in a Canadian museum; having been acquired by the museum in 1912 and on display since 1913. The other permanent exhibitions include Nature Live, a gallery that houses live arachnids, insects and other invertebrates; and the Water Gallery, which focuses on marine animals and hydrology. in the museum's Water Gallery exhibition The newest permanent exhibition to be introduced at the museum is the Canada Goose Arctic Experience, with over 200 specimens and artifacts from the Canadian Arctic on display in the exhibition. The Arctic Experience gallery was opened in June 2017, coinciding with the 150th anniversary celebrations for Canada. ==Collections==

from the museum's collection Collecting efforts by the Canadian Museum of Nature forms a part of the museum's core mandate, with the collection intended to be used to facilitate "interest in, knowledge of and appreciation and respect for the natural world." The museum's collection includes algae, amphibians, birds, bryophytes, fishes, gemstones, invertebrate animals, lichens, mammals, minerals, mosses, palaeobotany material, reptiles, rocks, vascular plants, and vertebrate fossils. In addition these specimens, the museum's collection also includes a collection of art and film pertaining to natural history, audio recording of animal behaviours, and animal models; the latter two typically employed in the museum's exhibitions. Although a number of these items are on display in its exhibitions, many of these specimens are held at an off-site storage facility, the Natural Heritage Campus in Gatineau, Quebec. Since 2001, there were approximately 43,000 specimens added to the museum's collections annually; acquired primarily through fieldwork by staff, research associates and other collaborators. Other early researchers who helped build up the institution's collections includes Erling Porsild, Charles Mortram Sternberg, and Percy A. Taverner. The Traill collection forms a part of the National Herbarium of Canada, the museum's botany collection. The museum also holds the largest collection of Arctic plant specimens from Canada; with over 100,000 Arctic plant specimens forming part of the National Herbarium of Canada collection. The holotype for the Vagaceratops was similarly mistaken for a different species when its fossils were first delivered to the museum in 1958; with museum researchers later discovering the fossil was a new species after removing it from the plaster field during the 1990s. The species was discovered by American palaeontologists Edward Daeschler, Farish Jenkins, and Neil Shubin on Ellesmere Island, who studied the fossils in the United States before they were sent to the Canadian Museum of Nature. ==Research==

Supporting and conducting research into natural history forms a part of the museum's core mandate according to the Museum Act. Museum researchers have been conducting research on Arctic flora since the 1980s, with a particular emphasis on alkali grass. Other major research programs the museum took part in include several excavations of the Foremost Formation for dinosaur remains, and the China-Canada Dinosaur Project between 1986 and 1991. Between 1972 and 1995, the institution published its own scientific journal, Syllogeus. ==Library and archives==

The museum also operates a library and archive at the Natural Heritage Centre. The library contains over 35,000 books, 2,000 periodic titles, museum publications, and microfilms relating to natural history. The museum's archives contain three collections: archival records relating to the museum; a photograph collection of more than 275,000 slides, photos, negatives, and plates; and an art collection of 1,800 works primarily focused on nature. ==See also==