On Monday July 15, at 7 PM, on the Esplanade Terrace, the Esplanade Museum is having a reception to open an exhibit, to celebrate a recent recognition and to celebrate its 62^nd anniversary.

PORTRAITS FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF JAZZ

Photographs by William Gottlieb (1917-2006)

The Esplanade Museum is pleased to present PORTRAITS FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF JAZZ: Photographs by William Gottlieb, a fascinating exhibition of approximately seventy-five photographs on display through August 24 in the Heritage Gallery.

During the 1930s and 1940s, William Gottlieb photographed the contemporary jazz scene to illustrate his columns in The Washington Post, Down Beat magazine, and other publications.  The photographic negatives were stored for more than thirty years until Gottlieb’s retirement in 1979, when he began printing the negatives.  The rest, literally, became history.  Gottlieb is now one of the most honored jazz photographers.
THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »

Terra Rogowski wrote in with:

The Esplanade Museum opened a new exhibition yesterday that features a century of classic toys from 1880 to 1980.

Playful Revelations uncovers the stories behind a century of classic toys, like Teddy Bears, Meccano®, and Mr. Potato Head, as well as some toys that are unique to Medicine Hat. The accompanying text helps visitors explore what these toys say about the social conditions during which they were made, and how they contributed to the social development of our society.

“Toys are a child’s ‘tools of the trade’ in learning how the world works, so we wanted to pay homage to their contribution in shaping our society into what you see today,” says Tim McShane, Curatorial Assistant with the Esplanade Museum.

Most of the toys featured in the exhibition are selected from the Esplanade Museum’s collection of more than 25,000 artefacts. Curatorial Assistant Tim McShane spent the past two years selecting and researching the toys for the exhibition. This included interviewing artefact donors and toy collectors, and even studying a bit of sociology to understand the toys’ impact. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »