Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum

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The Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum , formerly the Luxton Museum of the Plains Indian , is located in Banff , in the Canadian province of Alberta and represents the history and culture of the region with a focus on the First Nations resident there , especially the Stoney . The museum has existed since around 1952 and began its development in a log cabin in Banff. Today it's at 1 Birch Avenue, right on the Bow River .

history

The founder Norman Luxton

The museum was founded by Norman Luxton (1876–1962), who came to Banff when he was 26. He was the son of William Luxton, one of the founders of the Winnipeg Free Press . He founded the first year-round hotel in Banff, the King Edward . Then he opened the Lux Theater , published a newspaper with the Crag and Canyon from 1902 to 1951, ran a souvenir shop from 1902 under the name Sign of the Goat Curio Shop , as well as a free museum. On him who for some time for the history of the First Nations interested also going Banff Indian Days back, which he managed until 1950, and were held annually until 1978 (the Buffalo Nations Cultural Society she left off in 1992 as Tribal Days revive ). But above all he founded the Luxton Museum of the Plains Indian , today's Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum .

The gift shop led Luxton to develop a close friendship with members of the Stoney . He sold art for them, provided food in an emergency, and negotiated with the authorities on their behalf. He was a sponsor of the Morley Trading Post in Morley , and in 1904 Norman married a woman from the Morley Reserve area named Georgina McDougall. She was the daughter of the dealer and rancher David McDougall and his wife Annie McKenzie McDougall. Georgina was known as the first white child born in Alberta. Her paternal father was, in turn, the Reverend George McDougall, a Methodist missionary who had served in Alberta as early as the 1860s. David McDougall had worked for the Hudson's Bay Company , but he and his wife moved to Morley as an independent trader in 1874. They opened a trading post with the Stoney and supported the mission there.

The Luxtons were prominent members of the Banff community. Norman Luxton sat in the Banff Chamber of Commerce and was considered a friend of the Indians. Numerous artifacts collected from him. In the early 1950s, with the help of his friend Eric Harvie, founder of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary , he began to build an Indian art museum.

First he moved the hut of the Banff Gun Club to the current location west of Banff and filled a first room with works of art. In 1955 the building was more than doubled in size, the main building was built in 1957. Luxton died on October 26, 1962; he bequeathed the museum to Eric Harvie. He in turn bequeathed it to the Province of Alberta. Luxton's only daughter, Eleanor Georgina Luxton (1908–1995), after her death left a foundation that still exists today, which supports exhibitions and research through grants.

Focus

In the museum you can find feather and beadwork, clothes and fabrics, as well as objects from the pre-European period, such as pipes, weapons, ceremonial objects and merchandise, toys and cards. There are also love flutes and ceramics as well as porcelain pieces and other musical instruments.

Contemporary and historical paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and photographs are presented in the style of a pioneer museum. The same applies to numerous animal preparations.

Exhibition projects in recent years include the story of the Banff Indian Days , a project about Indian plants called the Medicine Wheel & Interpretive Garden , and the Aboriginal Voices Sound Recording Project . In it, narratives and reports recorded in indigenous languages ​​as well as in English are collected and presented. The collection continues. In 2004 alone, 16 CD recordings were made; in 2006 and 2007, this first phase was followed by a second.

literature

  • Courtney W. Mason: The Buffalo Nations / Luxton Museum: Tourism, Regional Forces and Problematising Cultural Representations of Aboriginal Peoples in Banff, Canada , in: International Journal of Heritage Studies, 15/4 (Jul 2009) 355 - 373.

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 19.5 ″  N , 115 ° 34 ′ 24.2 ″  W.