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A composite image of several orange pumpkins, a spacecraft next to a rocky body, and a zombie

3 things you should know about pumpkins, Trojan asteroids, and embracing your inner zombie

Three Conservators wearing personal protective equipment, including Tyvek suits, googles, nitrile gloves and respirators.

Behind the scenes of the Ingenium big move: Hazard mitigation of a print maker’s drawer

A women receives a COVID-19 vaccine from a healthcare worker in a school gym. Six people stand in the background, watching and clapping.

Tech tales: Capturing the stories behind Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout

A spliced, three-part image features: a tray of oysters on the left, a graphical representation of a black hole and a neutron star orbiting each other in the centre, and a graphical image of a robot on the right.

3 things you should know about acidification, gravitational waves, and humanoids

A young girl wearing a flowered dress is running through a path in a wheat field. Wind turbines are visible in the background, against a bright blue sky.

Bringing the past, present, and future to life with a captivating artifact

The surface of the Moon, scattered with craters of various sizes.

Astronaut training mission lands in Labrador

Two museum conservators wearing full-body Personal Protective Equipment stand side by side, holding a black aircraft control panel upright. The artifact is sitting on plastic sheeting on a table.

Inside Ingenium’s smallest collections storage room

Eight people stand in front of a flatbed truck, loaded with a large red-and-white wooden boat.

Collecting Nahma: A skiff with a story to tell

In the foreground, a cell phone displays the splash screen of the Sound by Design podcast. Behind the cellphone is a blurred image of the Sound by Design exhibition.

Museum podcasts: An ideal virtual format for blind and low vision visitors

In a field, a group of people lie on the grass looking up at the sky in front of two tipis.

Digging deeper: Regenerating Indigenous star knowledge

A desk with monochromatic white and silver objects on it, including an open laptop, a cellphone, a coffee cup, and several books. There is a plant in the background, and a white wall behind the desk.

Music meets public history and digital humanities in Garth Wilson Fellowship

A black-and-white image shows a group of seven men standing behind a large piece of wood, which is painted with the call letters “G-CAAC.”

Saving the Curtiss HS-2L: Recovering a piece of history from the bottom of a lake

From the Channel

An example of the French CGE-Tudor electric automobile. C. Faroux, “Un progrès considérable de la voitures électrique.” La Vie automobile, 25 September 1941, 284.

Road Transportation

‘Tween two joints, he really did something: Jean Albert Grégoire and his magnificent automobiles, Part 1

Rénald Fortier

Hail, my reading friend, and welcome you to the wonderful world of science, technology and innovation. And no, there will be no mention of aeronautics this week. As a former colleague told me over 30 years ago (Hello, CF!), there is more to life than airplanes. Considering the photograph that adorns this article of our blog / bulletin / thingee, you can probably imagine that our subject for this week of August 2021 is an automobile or, more precisely, the designer of that automobile. With your

The surface of the Moon, scattered with craters of various sizes.

Earth & Environment

Astronaut training mission lands in Labrador

The one and only example of the Italian long range airliner Breda Zappata BZ 308. Jacques Gambu. “Breda Zappata BZ 308.” Aviation Magazine, 1 September 1951, 21.

Il Constellation italiano, an unrecognised star in Italy’s aeronautical firmament: The Breda Zappata BZ 308 long range airliner

Rénald Fortier

It is with a certain trepidation that yours truly approaches the subject of this week, my reading friend. I feel a certain discomfort at the idea of talking about an aircraft designed in Italy during the years during which the Partito nazionale fascista, an unsavoury organisation led by Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, a pompous brute and buffoonish dictator mentioned since August 2018 in several issues of our blog / bulletin / thingee, held the reins of power. Before getting to the heart of

Paul Fjeld in the family residence, Rosemère, Québec. Claude-Lyse Gagnon, “Parti avec $200 en poche – Un jeune Québécois a pu voir décoller Apollo 15.” La Patrie, 15 August 1971, 12.

Space, the final frontier towards which travels our planet, the Earth; this is the life story of Paul Fjeld, space enthusiast and artist for over half a century

Rénald Fortier

God dag, good day, bonjour, my reading friend. There are people among us who, through a combination of hard work, talent and, perhaps, a little luck, manage to build careers in a field they had been passionate about since their teenage years, and even childhood. Paul Fjeld was / is one of those happy souls. Let me explain. Fjeld was born in Bærum, Norway, in June 1955. A few months later, his family moved to the Montréal, Québec, area. Fjeld’s childhood and adolescence undoubtedly resembled

Two museum conservators wearing full-body Personal Protective Equipment stand side by side, holding a black aircraft control panel upright. The artifact is sitting on plastic sheeting on a table.

Inside Ingenium’s smallest collections storage room

Advertisement for the Frontenac Blue Label lager of National Breweries Limited of Montréal, Québec. Anon., “Advertisement – National Breweries Limited.” Le Samedi, 23 August 1941, 12.

The great victim of the Montréal beer war of 1925: Frontenac Breweries Limited of Montréal, Québec

Rénald Fortier

Hello, my reading friend. Hoping that from time to time you let yourself be tempted by an alcoholic drink obtained by the fermentation of a mixture of vegetable products (wheat, rice and / or barley in most cases), consumed in moderation of course, in other words, a beer, yours truly would like to make you discover a Québec brewery well known in its time, Frontenac Breweries Limited of Montréal, Québec, and… Do you have a question, by any chance, my reading friend? Two questions?! Heavens, be

A white box is filled with seven objects. Two of them are boxes of metal type, labelled with white tags and black writing. The labels read: “880617,” “880618,” “880627,” and “880628.” The boxes are surrounded by the other artifacts that they will be packed with for transfer.

Inside the cigar box: A peek into a small, Canadian printing press

A Karou Karou all-terrain vehicle. Anon., “Opération Camping à Saint-Hilaire.” Photo-Journal, 26 July to 1 August 1971, 47.

Road Transportation

All-terrain, all-weather, all-pleasure: Karou Incorporée of Drummondville, Québec, and the Karou all-terrain vehicle

Rénald Fortier

On this day of August 2021, yours truly would like to invite you to an examination of one of the many all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) which saw the light of day during the 1970s, the Karou Karou, produced by Karou Incorporée of Drummondville, Québec – one of the first series-produced ATVs in Québec. And yes, I realise that the issue of the weekly Photo-Journal which served as a launch deck for this issue of our blog / bulletin / thingee covers the period from 26 July to 1 August 1971. Yours truly

Eight people stand in front of a flatbed truck, loaded with a large red-and-white wooden boat.

Collection Development

Collecting Nahma: A skiff with a story to tell

The first production example of the Canadian-made Avro Anson advanced training aircraft fitted with the moulded plywood fuselage, location unknown, 1943. CASM, 23290.

Not everyone knows that aircraft manufacturing can be a contact sport: Clarence Decatur Howe, Harvey Reginald MacMillan and the production of Avro Anson advances training aircraft in Canada, Part 2

Rénald Fortier

Hello there, my reading friend. Yours truly dares to hope that you are ready to see (read?) the exciting conclusion of this first August 2021 topic of our blog / bulletin / thingee. At the end of January 1941, the director of the Wartime Requirements Board, Harvey Reginald “H.R.” MacMillan, submitted a report to the Minister of Finance of Canada, James Lorimer Ilsley. And yes, this was indeed the famous report on aircraft production in Canada mentioned in the first part of this article. That

A spliced, three-part image shows plants growing out of water tubes on the left, a black-and-white image of Ganymede in the centre, and two blue butterflies on a flower on the right.

3 things you should know about aquaponics, Jupiter’s largest moon, and butterflies

3 things you should know about pumpkins, Trojan asteroids, and embracing your inner zombie

Michelle Campbell Mekarski, PhD

Canada Science and Technology Museum

A pair of Canadian-made Avro Anson advanced training aircraft operated by No. 10 Service Flying Training School, Royal Canadian Air Force Station Dauphin, near Dauphin, Manitoba, 1943-44. CASM, 27297.

Not everyone knows that aircraft manufacturing can be a contact sport: Clarence Decatur Howe, Harvey Reginald MacMillan and the production of Avro Anson advanced training aircraft in Canada, Part 1

Rénald Fortier

I would like on this day to spend several minutes with you, reviewing the history of an aircraft, but not just any aircraft. The Avro Anson was one of the most important advanced training aircraft of the Second World War. Need I add that the stunning collection at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, has an Anson? Or that the first flight of the first Canadian-made Anson took place in August 1941, precisely 80 years ago? If I may be permitted to paraphrase, out of context and

In the foreground, a cell phone displays the splash screen of the Sound by Design podcast. Behind the cellphone is a blurred image of the Sound by Design exhibition.

Museum podcasts: An ideal virtual format for blind and low vision visitors

The very first electric streetcar operated by Telegraphen-Bau-Anstalt von Siemens & Halske, Berlin, German Empire. Anon., “The first electric railway in Berlin.” Canadian Illustrated News, 9 July 1881, 21.

A streetcar named Straßenbahn Groß-Lichterfelde, or, How Telegraphen-Bau-Anstalt von Siemens & Halske put in service the world’s first electric streetcar

Rénald Fortier

Greetings, my… What is it, my reading friend? You seem strangely agitated, more than usual that is. The Lokalbahn Mödling-Hinterbrühl, you say (type?)? Well, it is true that some / many people have claimed / claim / will presumably claim that the Mödling-Hinterbrühl local railway in Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire, was the world’s first electric streetcar, as its connections were largely flush with the streets it was crossing. Still, this local railway went into service in October 1883 – more

In a field, a group of people lie on the grass looking up at the sky in front of two tipis.

Digging deeper: Regenerating Indigenous star knowledge

A desk with monochromatic white and silver objects on it, including an open laptop, a cellphone, a coffee cup, and several books. There is a plant in the background, and a white wall behind the desk.

Music meets public history and digital humanities in Garth Wilson Fellowship

The Canadian author and aviation pioneer Frank Henry Ellis (centre) with American aviation pioneers Frank Purdy Lahm (left) and Will D. “Billy” Parker, president of Early Birds of Aviation Incorporated, Los Angeles, California. Robert Francis, “Early Birds.” Sunday Sun Magazine, 28 July 1951, 5.

If we have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of a giant: Frank Henry Ellis and Canada’s Flying Heritage

Rénald Fortier

Hello and… And yes, my slightly anal reading friend, you are quite right. 28 July 1951 was a Saturday, not a Sunday, but what can yours truly tell you? Sunday Sun Magazine, a supplement of The Sunday Sun, the weekend edition of the daily newspaper The Vancouver Sun of Vancouver, British Columbia, was seemingly published on a Saturday – at least on that occasion. Go figure. Again, hello and welcome to the wonderful world of aeronautics and astronautics and, more specifically, the 200th topic (!)