The Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia

10/12/2026

10/01/2026

Purchase your Paranormal Event tickets early before they sell out.

09/30/2026

🧡 September 30 | National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Today, the St. James-Assiniboia Museum joins Canadians in remembering the children who never returned home from residential schools and honouring Survivors, their families, and their communities.

As a museum, we have a responsibility to encourage an honest understanding of the past. The history of our community includes Indigenous voices, experiences, and knowledge that must be heard—not only today, but throughout the year.

Residential schools separated children from their families, languages, and cultures. The impacts continue across generations. We also recognize the strength of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples and their ongoing work to sustain and reclaim their languages, traditions, and connections.

Today is an invitation to listen with care, learn from Survivors, and consider how each of us can contribute to reconciliation. Wear orange, seek out Indigenous stories and perspectives, and carry that learning into everyday life.

Every child deserves safety, love, belonging, and pride in who they are.

Every Child Matters. 🧡

09/23/2026

Barbara Nepinak on Fall Solstice traditions...

09/23/2026

Answer to the Museum Quiz:
It’s a metal vintage soap saver—also known as a soap shaker, soap cage, or soap wand—is a handheld wire-mesh basket attached to a long handle, used to dissolve soap scraps into warm water to create soapy suds.

How It Works
Loading: You squeeze or unlatch the handle to open the small metal wire cage at the end.
Filling: You place leftover soap slivers or a small piece of a bar inside the cage.

Agitation: You submerge the cage into a basin, sink, or tub of hot water and swish or shake it by the handle until the water becomes bubbly and soapy.

History and Uses
Zero-Waste Origins: Popularized during periods of economic hardship like the Great Depression and times of scarcity in the late 1800s and early 1900s, these tools ensured no piece of expensive bar soap went to waste.

Cleaning Applications: Housemakers used the generated soapy water to hand-wash delicate laundry, handkerchiefs, dishes, or floors.

Modern Appeal: Today, vintage metal soap savers are prized as rustic farmhouse decor or reused by eco-conscious, zero-waste households to stretch natural soap bars.

Rules of the Museum Quiz:

1. Without checking any reference source—including an AI chat—try to guess what this object is.

2. Please don’t reveal your answer. In the comments section, respond only with: “I know,” “I’m not sure,” or “I haven’t got a clue.”

3. The answer to this quiz will be revealed on the museum’s page on Saturday, September 26, 2026.

09/10/2026

🍂 Welcome to fall in St. James! 🍁

Long before pumpkin spice and back-to-school season, autumn along the Assiniboine River was one of the most important times of the year.

For the Indigenous peoples who have lived on these lands for thousands of years — including Anishinaabeg, Ininiwak and Nakota peoples — fall was a season of gathering, hunting, fishing, preserving food and preparing carefully for the long Prairie winter ahead. The area is also part of the National Homeland of the Red River Métis, whose history is deeply woven into the story of St. James and the wider Red River region.

As settlement grew during the 1800s, autumn remained just as important. Families harvested gardens and crops, preserved vegetables, prepared firewood, repaired homes and barns, and made sure there would be enough food and supplies to carry everyone through the cold months ahead.

The Assiniboine River, the changing leaves, shorter days and cool evenings would have been familiar signs that winter was coming — just as they are today.

So as fall begins to colour St. James once again, it’s worth remembering that generations of people have watched these same seasonal changes along the river and prepared for what came next.

🍁 Happy fall from the Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia!

The Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia is located on Treaty 1 land, the National Homeland of the Red River Métis, and the traditional territories of the Anishinaabeg, Ininiwak and Nakota Nations.

08/25/2026

🍂 **When summer ended in St. James… you paid attention.**

In the 1850s, there was no calendar notification telling you autumn was coming.

You felt it.

The evenings grew cooler. The daylight began slipping away a little earlier. Fields and gardens had to be harvested. Food needed to be preserved. Wood needed to be gathered. Homes had to be made ready.

Because on the banks of the Assiniboine, winter wasn’t just another season.

**It was something you prepared for.**

For the Métis families and other residents of the Red River Settlement, late summer was a busy turning point — a time of harvesting, fishing, hunting, trading, storing food and making sure there would be enough to carry a household through the long Manitoba winter.

And yet we can imagine there must have been something familiar about these final days of August too.

One more warm evening.

One more sunset over the prairie.

One more night with the door open before the cold arrived.

Nearly 175 years later, summer still seems to disappear the same way:

**slowly… and then all at once.**

So enjoy these last warm days.

People along the Assiniboine have probably been doing exactly that for a very long time. 🌾☀️🍂

08/14/2026

**The Woman Behind the Brown House: Charlotte Omand Brown**

When we tell the story of the Brown House, it’s easy to focus on the name over the door: William Brown. But this was **Charlotte’s home too — and her story is an important part of Manitoba’s history.**

Charlotte Omand Brown was a **Métis woman with English and Anishinaabe family roots**, part of a prominent Métis family in the Red River region. She married former Hudson’s Bay Company employee William Brown, and together they raised **six children**.

Around 1856, the family established their home on an Assiniboine River lot in Headingley. The Red River frame house that survives today began as a much simpler dwelling and became the centre of a busy farming household.

It’s worth imagining that house not simply as an old building, but as a **home** — children growing up, meals being prepared, fires keeping the Manitoba winter outside, work to be done every day, and generations of family life unfolding within those walls.

Charlotte reminds us of something important about local history: the stories of women — and particularly Métis and Indigenous women — can sometimes disappear behind the names traditionally attached to buildings and properties.

Today, when you walk through the Brown House at the Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia, you’re walking through **Charlotte’s story as much as William’s.**

And perhaps we should remember it that way. ❤️

08/11/2026

Have you ever used an expression without realizing just how old it is? In this video, we’ll uncover the story behind a phrase you probably say all the time—even though it no longer really matches the technology we use today.

We’ll explore how language quietly preserves little pieces of history, carrying expressions forward long after the original objects have disappeared.

We’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Did anything in this post bring back memories, thoughts, or experiences from your own life? Did you find this information interesting?

We always enjoy hearing different perspectives and personal stories.