Graham Iddon, Blog posts

  • May 2, 2014

    The Adventure of Exhibit Planning III

    By: Graham Iddon


    During the planning stages stamping the word ‘final’ on any given aspect of a travelling exhibition can seem less of a directive and more of an overly optimistic suggestion.
    Content type(s): Blog posts
  • April 3, 2014

    Museum Reconstruction - Part 1

    By: Graham Iddon


    In early February, a small group from the Bank’s Communications Department booked a brief tour of the main floor and first basement at the Wellington Street head office. It’s still in the demolition phase of the renovation.
    Content type(s): Blog posts
  • February 14, 2014

    We’re the Currency Museum, not the Mint

    By: Graham Iddon


    If we had a nickel for every time people asked questions like that, we’d have… Well, I suppose we have roughly that number of nickels already; we have a long history as a currency museum after all. When the museum was open, somebody would ask a similar question several times a week.
    Content type(s): Blog posts
  • October 7, 2013

    The Cases are Almost Empty

    By: Graham Iddon


    For the first time since they went into their cases in 1980, over 2000 coins, notes, beads and shells are coming back out. The Museum’s curatorial staff are busily pulling panels from cases, placing coins into specially prepared drawers and sliding notes into acid-free Mylar envelopes.
    Content type(s): Blog posts
  • September 24, 2013

    Curators Begin Removal of Artifacts

    By: Graham Iddon


    The doors were barely closed following Big Top Farewell event before Chief Curator Paul Berry and his team began emptying display cases that had been sealed shut since 1980. The biggest task involved removing more than 2500 bank notes from the room we knew as Gallery 8.
    Content type(s): Blog posts
  • September 6, 2013

    First Artifacts to Leave the Museum: And they were big

    By: Graham Iddon


    Before the museum closed for renovations on 2 July, technicians began to remove the heavier artifacts in late May. First to go was the strong box. Built of ¼” thick welded steel plates, this trunk was used by the Bank of Upper Canada in Toronto between 1821 and 1866.
    Content type(s): Blog posts
  • June 21, 2013

    Farewell to the Currency Museum c.1980

    By: Graham Iddon


    The roots of the Currency Museum go back to 1959 when the then Governor of the Bank of Canada, James Coyne, proposed the idea of establishing a currency collection that would reflect the colourful monetary history of Canada. By the time the go-ahead was given in 1963 by Coyne’s successor, Louis Rasminsky, the collection’s mandate had been expanded to include world monetary history, banking and production artifacts and a numismatic library.
    Content type(s): Blog posts
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