Heritage Month at the Nanaimo Museum: Speaker Series

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Wednesday, February 18th, 2015

Celebrate our city’s storied past at the Nanaimo Museum.   Heritage week from February 16-22 has inspired a month of family activities and a speaker series.  This year’s theme, Main Street:  at the Heart of the Community is reflected in a Then & Now display of archival and modern photos.

The first presentation in the speaker series is about Nanaimo’s red light district on Fraser Street from the 1890s-1920s.  “Red Lights features unique stories of people who lived and worked in the district,” says Greenaway.  “It reveals a chapter of local history not covered extensively in history books.” Red Lights is on Wednesday, February 11 from 1:30-2:15 pm.  Cost is $10 and pre-registration is required.  This presentation is part of the museum’s feature exhibit, Red Lights & Roulette, running from February 2 to May 1.

The second speaker in the series is Alison Marshall, author of Cultivating Connections:  the Making of Chinese Prairie Canada.  The presentation is Wednesday, February 18 from 3:30-5:00 and is sponsored by the Social Sciences Department at VIU.  Admission is by donation.

Join Vancouver Island University student and Nanaimo Museum summer student, Paige Fehr, for the third presentation in the series called Nanaimo during the Great War.  The presentation takes place during the centennial of World War I and will include historical photos and takes place Wednesday, Feb. 25 from 1:00-1:30.  Admission is by donation.

The museum is also featuring a photo display that ties in with the Main Street heritage week theme.  Then & Now contrasts historical and modern photos of downtown to show how the city has changed over the last 160 years.  The display is beside the museum’s lobby and is free of charge.