Monday Museum #3: Under Construction

For the past few months we have been working to upgrade our Cretaceous exhibits at the Manitoba Museum. These had been almost unchanged since some time in the Late Pliocene (well, the early 70s, anyway), and were definitely showing their age. In the spring we opened the first part of these exhibits, representing an introduction to the Cretaceous and the Cretaceous terrestrial (land) record.

We have continued to work on exhibits and are now within spitting distance of finishing the second part: the marine Cretaceous and the end Cretaceous extinction. Which is a very good thing, because we are scheduled to remove the hoardings and open this to the visitors next weekend.

At the moment the boundary between the Cretaceous and the Cenozoic is graphically represented by this hoarding (yes, that's a ground sloth in the foreground). But wait ... (photo © The Manitoba Museum, 2009)

The cases have been built, the panels designed and sent for output, specimens prepared, models created, mounts constructed, lights installed, and video edited. For the past few days we have been occupied with fitting specimens and models into their cases. This is mostly very pleasant, since we know the end is close and are beginning to see what it will all look like. Nevertheless, it is also slow, painstaking, and occasionally exasperating.

Next week I hope to show you the first of the finished results, and in the interim I may talk a bit more about how we acquired some of the pieces. But now I’d better get back to work on it, so you will have to content yourselves with the view through the hoarding …

(photo © The Manitoba Museum, 2009)