Museum History: The Museum's Homes
The Museum's collections moved to various locations within Regina during 1906-1945, including: the Regina Trading Company Building, the Provincial Legislative Building, and the Normal School. The collections were always on public display except during World War II. The Museum was put into storage and moved to the General Motors Building during this time because the Normal School was required for the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. However, one year later, the GM building was needed for wartime production and the Museum was again relocated, this time to the Pilkington's Glass Company Building. After being exposed to freezing temperatures, basement floods, and the threat of insect infestation, the Museum was moved out of storage and back into the Normal School in 1944. The Museum was reopened to the public one year later.
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The need for "a new building specially planned for museum purposes" had been identified as early as 1913. Forty years later, with the aid of the lobbying efforts of the Regina Natural History Society and the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society, the Government of Saskatchewan decided to construct a new museum building.
The new building was a Golden Jubilee project, created to mark Saskatchewan's 50th anniversary in confederation. In 1953, the construction of the museum building began. After years of relocating, this would be the Museum's first permanent home. The original cost of the building was expected to be $500,000; however, the end cost totaled $1.5 million (approximately $11.2 million today).
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Governor-General Vincent Massey opened the Museum's new home on May 16, 1955. With 20,000 square feet (1858 square metres) of gallery space, plus laboratories, work areas, office and storage space, the Museum no longer had to worry about overcrowding and the threat of being forced to relocate. The new extensive amount of gallery space provided room for large scale dioramas to depict many areas of the province.
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For further information contact the RSM Information Desk.
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