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Galt Museum and Archives

The Galt Museum and Archives is likely one of the most beautiful museums I have ever encountered. As I have discussed before, The Husband and I visited Lethbridge because I am participating in the Certificate in Museum Studies program facilitated by the Alberta Museums Association. Neither of us had been to Lethbridge before, so we made a mini vacation out of it! We stopped in at Heritage Park on our way there (my review here) and were both amazed at the outstanding views in Southern Alberta. We travelled through parkland, boreal forest, desert (complete with cacti), foothills, mountains, and bald prairie. It's understandable now why so many movies are filmed here: it's simply incredible.

Review
The Galt was simply fantastic architecturally. The western wall is windowed and overlooks a beautiful Trestle bridge and an enormous gorge made from the Oldman River. In the words of the random old man admiring the view beside me: "Water does amazing sh*t, don't it?" Indeed it does, old man admiring the Oldman River, indeed it does.

The museum which overlooks these amazing views isn't enormous, but it is really special. It is bright and spacious and, thankfully, maintained the facade of the old museum, which was formerly the town hospital. The influenza exhibit which lines the main hallway was fascinating and was a great homage to the history of the building itself.

The gallery featured several fantastic areas. The airplane ride through was a fun way to help orientate guests geographically, as was the video with early European immigrants who helped found Lethbridge. The gallery also featured content devoted to Indigenous culture, the impacts of Europeans, as well as Chinese Canadian history. The later is something I feel is lacking throughout museums in Alberta, so I was absolutely thrilled to see it included.

The gallery had an area devoted economic and industrial history of the area, which I always find fascinating. Like so many places in Alberta, Lethbridge was founded due to its proximity to an energy resource, so it was neat to see the influence of industry and energy on early Lethbridge. Today, the area is well known for its abundance of wind turbines, so that juxtaposition was fantastic.

I was not aware, or at least had never considered, the abundance of Japanese-Canadians living in the area. The reasons for this are unfortunately linked to the Canadian Government's abhorrent treatment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War and the presence of internment camps in the area. However, I was so grateful for the opportunity to engage with this content and to see those narratives present.


Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a patch for my jacket, but I was able to find a small pewter pin. Alas, it seems patches are significantly harder to come by. My thanks to the staff at The Galt for their willingness to inquire about patches, even if it was fruitless.

Highlights: The Husband particularly loved the area devoted to Southern Alberta's film history. The admission price was also economical, which is always a nice bonus. You can feel the pride the local people, and government, have in this museum and I appreciate their efforts to make it accessible to so many.

 Missed: While no fault of the museum's, there was a wedding happening on the day which The Husband and I toured, which meant that we weren't able to experience some portions of the building.

 Ratings
Family Friendly: 4/5
Cleanliness: 4/5
Staff Knowledge: 5/5
Content: 4/5
Experience: 4/5
Overall Experience: 4/5

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