Pioneer Acres Museum
Box 58 T0M 1B0 Irricana, AB, Canada

In honour of Victoria Day, we are rereleasing this episode of Pioneer Acres radio, recorded with Josh Traptow of Heritage Calgary. Josh walks us through the monarchs who ruled Canada from 1900 to approximately 1950, beginning with Queen Victoria herself. Learn about royal visits to southern Alberta, the signing of the treaties, the deteriorating relationship between King Edward VII and the Kaiser of Germany during the early 1900s, and the other prominent historic royal figures whose reigns impacted the lives of our grandparents and great-grandparents.

For the May Long Weekend, we are presenting yet another superb virtual tour from Off the Beaten Path - with Chris & Connie. This time, we're touring through some hidden gems at Pioneer Acres. Please enjoy scrolling through this gallery highlighting excellent artifacts, all seen through the eyes of the artists who took the photographs. We hope that you all have a wonderful weekend, and we look forward to showing you around in person soon. All photographs taken by our friends Chris Doering and Connie Biggart.

We are live from the Pioneer Acres library today where we are cataloguing magazines, books and many, MANY tractor manuals on this cold May morning. What colours should you wear that are flattering to your hair colour? Let us know in the comments, and we shall respond with some advice from a book published in 1943.

We know it isn’t quite up to the standards of Connie Biggart and Chris Doering, but we decided to start the day with some photographs of our historic Long House. The Long House was built in 1914; the head carpenter was John Thomas. Of the house, Esther Crawford wrote in 1974, After 60 years, the floors have not sagged and I have yet to see a wind that made them tremble or creak, which, I think, bear testament to the workmanship and materials. The Long House has seen a gre...at deal of history come and go. Covid-19 isn’t the first stressful global event it has been through. We like to think that people in the past sat on this lovely quiet veranda and took courage. We are looking forward to the time ... hopefully in the not too distant future ... when we can all sit on it together. #PioneerAcres #hope #history See more

Wildflowers and storm clouds. It's like living in a postcard. #springtimeinalberta

Looks like the mice have have been spotted in the car and truck museum this morning! #truck #carandtruckmuseum #rugby #rugbytruck #miceofpa #lookatthistruck

Updated Hours: See you in 2021!

Day 2: Poppy, Tucker and Oliver were sad to hear they missed the CP Holiday Train this year, so they decided to make their own in the #grainacademey. Don’t think it was quite the same effect, but they enjoyed it. #cpholidaytrain #christmastrain #12daysofchrstimas #day2 #christmas #christmasspirit

We’re open! See you at 1.00 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays for tours of the Grain Academy and our Pioneer World building. Thank you to the Town of Irricana for your support! We’re grateful to be a part of this community. Pioneer Acres Winter Hours: Thursday: 1.00 p.m. - 4.00 p.m. Friday: 1.00 p.m. - 4.00 p.m. Saturday: 1.00 p.m. - 4.00 p.m.... See you soon! See more

Day 1: The Mice heard about this writing letters to Santa ordeal and have now insisted they write their own using the IBM Electric II typewrite, using the different options to change their font style, so like snowflakes, no two letters are the same. Why not use a regular computer? Well, where would the fun in that be? #letterstosanta #12daysofchristmas #Day1 #christams #typewriter #miceofpa #kidsofpa #kidsofpioneeracres #pioneeracres

Pioneer Acres Grand Re-Reopening: 5 November 2020 Buildings Available for Viewing: Pioneer World and the Grain Academy... Hours: Thursday: 1.00 p.m. 4.00 p.m. Friday: 1.00 p.m. 4.00 p.m. Saturday: 1.00 p.m. 4.00 p.m. Admission: Adults: $10.00 Children 6 12: $5.00 Children under 5: Free Please follow along on social media for details or check our website at pioneeracres.ab.ca for updates.

Tractor Trivia: On the Case Tractor fans start your engines. Here were your trivia questions for the week. We will provide a review of the questions, the answers and the backstory. 1. True or false: J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company and J. I. Case Plow Works Company were the same company....Continue reading

We know who our Leader is. #leader

With this recent snowfall the Grain Academy is a little harder to get to. If you're planning a visit in the next couple days we caution driving over at your own risk of getting stuck so plan to wear waterproof shoes and warm coats to walk over. Safe to say winter's here! Reminder we are open Thursday through Saturday 1:00 p.m. - 4 :00 p.m.

Because the weather is so good at the moment, Pioneer Acres staff are doing their best to reunite some of our outdoor artifacts (a.k.a., the tractors) with their documentation. This is what Pioneer Acres is famous for, these powerful machines that once revolutionised agriculture. From about 1900 to 1950, machines that were to change our world forever swept across the prairies. Although the tractors, combines and other implements in these images may look primitive set against a modern Case or Kubota, at the time they made the labour intensive threshing machines they replaced appear the same way. At Pioneer Acres we tell the story from the walking plow days right through to the Massey Pony! (That's Emma-lee getting the photographs she needs to catalogue this little artifact in our database). #workinprogress #snowonfriday

Even Tucker, Poppy and Oliver are going to follow the new guidelines while they help us develop our camera display. Sneak peek at our new camera display in the back but don’t tell Curator Shelly we showed you yet! Shhhh! #newdisplay #socialdistance #themiceofpa #pakids #pioneeracres #pioneeracresmuseum #stayingsafe #stayinghealthy #stayingpositive

Coming soon: the interview we recorded with the creative duo of Bob Swanson and Brenda Campbell, essentially the parents of the Grain Academy at Pioneer Acres. They told us about their backgrounds and influences, their favourite museums, and all the outtakes from the construction of the Grain Academy. Then they took us on tour! There will be more to come, stay tuned.

Always in Alberta there is a fresh wind blowing. Nellie McClung.

Halloween may be over but it’s still a little spooky outside Crown School in our opinion......

Well would you look at that! It appears we have some new friends joining us inside this winter! #PAKids #somethingnewiscoming

Hey All! Emma-lee here doing a take over of Facebook this morning! So it's now coming to the end of my second week here at Pioneer Acres and I've realized that I haven't really shown you guys here on Facebook what my job entitles. These green sheets document all of the artifacts here at Pioneer Acres, and reorganizing them has been my first step in the cataloging process! Each of these sheets will eventually need to be reunited with the objects they came with. Once the green ...sheet has been reunited with it's object I then have to put it into the computer system called Past Perfect. Past Perfect is a cataloguing system that allows us to be able to find an object's history, location, photos and any other information we may need in an easy way, it also helps us know what objects here in the museum are on loan, I'll try to do a more in-depth post about Past Perfect once I've found more objects to catalogue. I am still trying to find my way around here and develop a system for these sheets that not only works for both Shelly and I, but also easy enough to understand for the next person who takes over when Shelly and I are both gone. I came from a Museum that had all these systems in place, and now I am in charge of creating these systems and I'll admit it's been a little slow going and overwhelming but like our new motto states "It's a work in Progress". Hope you all have a good day, and a Happy Halloween! See more

The Ghosts of Pioneer Acres We are joined by award winning playwright, eduator, researcher and actor Kim Cheel for a storytime and history lesson that touches on the history of Airdrie, Irricana and southern Alberta and the lives of the people who lived and died here more than 100 years ago.

Earlier this year, Pioneer Acres became the site of a photo shoot for @calgaryfirefighters @dominik_friede @butterbee.media. This was in support of the Calgary Fire Fighters Toy Association (you can learn more about that great community organization right here: https://www.calgary.ca//calgary-firefighters-toy-associati). They took some drone footage for us that day, too. We think it looks pretty great. Sadly, this important event was cancelled a few days ago. You can see that story here: https://globalnews.ca//calgary-firefighters-toy-associati/. We are really glad we had the opportunity to build a relationship with a new community partner, and we are looking forward to a happier future in 2021.

The Ghosts of Pioneer Acres Join Pioneer Acres staff and researcher, educator and artist Kim Cheel on Zoom at 11.00 a.m. today for stories about the ghosts that inhabit the area around Irricana. We will make the recording available on Facebook for those who can't make it live! Click on this link at 11.00 a.m. to join us for this storytime: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87325371484 Pioneer Acres is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.... Topic: The Ghosts of Pioneer Acres Time: Oct 29, 2020 11:00 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87325371484 Meeting ID: 873 2537 1484 Passcode: 660499

Pioneer Acres is reopening! Catch our live video streaming from the Grain Academy to hear the details!

Our website is changing! https://pioneeracres.ab.ca/ will be expanding over the coming months. Look for gorgeous new photographs (including drone footage taken by our new pals the City of Calgary Firefighters), video clips from our great friend, the outstanding filmmaker @Rainhill1829, and finally, options for virtual touring. Planning your visit to Pioneer Acres is easier and more exciting than ever before and today we are sharing a virtual tour created for us by Westlake Media. Please feel free to go exploring by clicking this link: https://westlakemedia.ca/tours/pioneer/ Want to visit Pioneer Acres in real life? Our newly expanded winter hours are listed on our website as well. See you soon!

Tractor Trivia Tuesdays: On the Case Well, even though I thought it would be one and done after that first wild week, we got feedback that people were enjoying Tractor Trivia. Some of you pointed out that there is not a lot to do right now and wanted us to keep going. Over on Instagram, @snarkbusters made this comment: All that work we put into Tractor Trivia for it to be thrown to the side!! Shame... but yes, it was a lot. Disappointed you’re showing John Deere afore the /O...BVIOUSLY/ superior brand, Case . Oh, well, we cannot let a challenge like that go unanswered! So, we have two Case trivia questions for you to comment on, and there is a bonus question in Instagram and Facebook stories that you can see the correct answer to right away. Tractor fans start your engines. Here are your tractor trivia questions for the week. 1. True or false: J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company and J. I. Case Plow Works Company were the same company. 2. Name the town near Racine, WI where J. I. Case wanted to build his first manufacturing plant but was refused water rights. The comment section awaits! We reveal the correct answers on Friday and thank you to Josh for inspiring this post. If you are enjoying the photographs of the beautiful Case 500 attached to this post, you can click this link to read an article that we wrote about this tractor. It belongs to one of our members, Richard Sharp, and we had a great interview with him this summer that we think you will enjoy. https://www.facebook.com/pioneer.acres/posts/10157245669402050

It was very PSL outside our blacksmith shop this morning. We’re glad autumn is back ... for the time being.

Pioneer Acres staff are working from home today but back to cataloging tomorrow. Did you know it can take a week or more to carefully itemize everything in one display case? Researching artifacts, documenting as much information about them as possible and marking them in a way that is minimally damaging is all part of the process. Museums are here to tell the stories of objects and the people who owned, used and enjoyed them. Here are a few items from a display of salt and pepper shakers that are featured in our Pioneer World building. Aren’t they charming? Do you have a favourite? Let us know in the comments!

For Remembrance Day, our curator Shelly McElroy was featured on Global News. Research for her upcoming book "The Calgary Stampeders: Warriors On and Off the Field" was highlighted in this interview with Global's Cami Kepke. https://globalnews.ca//alberta-football-military-connecti/

Meet our Assistant Curator

Through some research we have found that today is the Anniversary of the passing of Canadian artist Georgia Jarvis. Her oil paintings captured the realistic details and reflected the natural beauty found in Western Canada and we are fortunate to have some of her beautiful artwork on display here at the museum #PioneerAcres #ExploreAlberta #HistoryCheck #SimplyAlberta #TravelAlberta #alberta #canada #history #roadtrip #CaptureCalgary #AlbertaRoadTrips #AlbertaMuseums #Museums #ExploreAlbertaHistory #albertaart #albertaartist #calgary #yyc #tourismcalgary #westerncanada #georgiajarvis

RainHill1829 Interview We’re doing our best to share more photographs with our social media audience here at Pioneer Acres but at the moment, audiences are showing a strong preference for videos, and whether it is the perfect model train in the Grain Academy or watching a one-hundred-year-old piece of farm equipment come roaring to life, Pioneer Acres was made for filmmakers. Do you know about RainHill1829? On Instagram you can follow at @Rainhill1829 or on YouTube click on h...Continue reading

Congratulations! We have reached 5,850 people on Facebook in just the last 30 days. This is a record and thanks go out to everyone who Posts, Comments & Likes our page. This is the best way to tell the Pioneer Acres Story. Thanks to Shelly for all her consistent every day conversations. The live Videos are a hit with huge numbers tuning in.