Accession UAA-2013-035 - UAA-2013-035

The Royal Alberta Museum is a provincial museum of natural and human history in Edmonton, Alberta. It opened to the public on December 6, 1967 under the name Provincial Museum of Alberta. The museum’s name was changed to the Royal Alberta Museum in 2005, during Queen Elizabeth II’s visit on May 24, 2005 as part of Alberta Centennial celebrations. Originally located in the neighbourhood of Glenora, Edmonton, the museum relocated to a new building in downtown Edmonton in 2018. Following this move, the Royal Alberta Museum became the largest museum in Western Canada. The museum’s vision is “To foster wonder, inquiry and new understandings about Alberta and its place in the world”, and its mission is “To share Alberta's remarkable stories in meaningful ways.” (https://royalalbertamuseum.ca/about, accessed 12 Dec. 2021).

In the late 1950s, the federal government announced that grants would be available to each province to mark Canada’s centennial in 1967. The Alberta government chose to use this opportunity to open a provincial museum and archives. In 1962, a Museums Branch under the Department of the Provincial Secretary was established. Raymond O. Harrison was hired as Director of the Provincial Museum and Archives of Alberta, a position that he held from 1962-1972, before moving onto other roles within the Government of Alberta. Harrison was given 5 million dollars in funding to hire employees, build the collection, and construct a museum and develop exhibits. The Glenora building was built in 1965, and the museum opened to the public on December 6, 1967. The original exhibit galleries included: Fur Trade, Native Peoples of Alberta, Agriculture, Pioneer Life, and Industry and Commerce. The beginning of a Natural History gallery was also in place at opening, with taxidermied animals and models of plans for future habitat dioramas. The Provincial Archives of Alberta was also located in the Glenora building until they moved to a new location in southeast Edmonton in 2003.

In 1969, the museum was instrumental in beginning the Museums Advisory Program, which led to the creation of the Alberta Museum Association in 1971. The museum continued to expand and develop new exhibits throughout the 1970s. A Traveling Exhibits Program was established to create exhibits to tour locally and nationally. In 1981, the palaeontology program was split from the provincial museum to form the new Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, AB, which opened in 1985. Also in the 1980s, the Friends of the Royal Alberta Museum Society was founded as a charitable non-profit organization to support and promote the work of the museum. The museum planned throughout the late 1980s for ways to feature more of its collection, as well as how to attract visitors with the introduction of paid admission in 1990. This led to the transformation of one of the main floor galleries into a temporary exhibition space. From 1989 until the early 2000s, more than 175 feature exhibitions were either brought in or developed in-house, and many permanent exhibitions were updated.

In 2011 under Premier Ed Stelmach, it was announced that the Royal Alberta Museum would be moving to a new larger building in downtown Edmonton. Funding agreement negotiations between the provincial and federal governments delayed plans from moving forward, but construction finally began in 2014. The Glenora museum building closed in December 2015 so that staff could focus on planning exhibits and moving all of the collections to the downtown building. The grand opening of the new downtown Royal Alberta Museum was on October 3, 2018. A total of $375.5 million was invested in the project. The museum galleries include: Human History, Natural History, Bug Gallery, Children’s Gallery, and a temporary exhibition space.

As of 2021, the Royal Alberta Museum has thirteen curatorial programs: western Canadian history, indigenous studies, cultural communities, military and political history, archaeology, ornithology, mammalogy, ichthyology, invertebrate zoology, botany, geology, Quaternary palaeontology, and Quaternary environments. These are supported by conservation and collections management departments.

In addition to historical exhibits, the Royal Alberta Museum also offers educational programs, virtual exhibits, publications, and functions as a community venue for cultural performances, lectures, films, concerts, award ceremonies, society meetings, business meetings, receptions and weddings.