From Archives to Exhibit: A Public History Workshop:
Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Time: 12:30-5pm
Location: Brandon University, Louis Riel Room
Registration: $25
Reduced fees for Indigenous cultural heritage organizations and workers ($10); and students ($5)
Registration Deadline: March 17, 2026
If you have registration issues, please contact Sarah Story amaoffice@mbarchives.ca
Please contact education@mbarchives.ca with any questions about the workshop.
From Archives to Exhibit: A Public History Workshop will begin with participants attending the opening of the Tracing Knowledge: Indigenous Stories in the Archives exhibit that has been developed through a collaboration with the Association for Manitoba Archives (AMA), the Brandon University Public History Program, and the S. J. McKee Archives at Brandon University. Drawing on archival records held at the S.J. McKee Archives, the exhibition features pop-up banners created by Brandon University Public History student Grace Wowchuk that examine how Indigenous histories, knowledges, and lived experiences are captured in records created through historical processes; and invites visitors to consider how Indigenous stories can be traced, re-read, and re-centred within archival spaces. The exhibition and banners will be used as examples and teaching tools for the workshop.
The workshop, facilitated by Dr. Rhonda Hinther, with assistance from the Association for Manitoba Archives Education Committee, will guide participants through how to create visually impactful exhibitions using low-cost and low-resource pop-up banners that can be displayed on their own or as part of displays made up of multiple banners. Pop-up banners can be used to build adaptable displays that share archival and museum collections while reducing the harms that can come with display and exhibition. The banners can be used in areas that do not have ideal exhibition spaces or supportive environmental conditions for displaying cultural heritage items, and offer a travel-friendly option for off-site displays.
Workshop Goals/Objectives:
Participants will learn how to design a pop-up banner exhibit with a focus on good exhibition design principles including:
- Information on available design programs, including paid and low-cost options
- Guidelines on text length and suggested reading levels
- Image requirements for printing
- Caption requirements and constraints
- Working with graphic designers and basics on independent in-house DIY design
- Information on different printing options
- Introductory information on promoting exhibitions
Participants will also receive exhibition planning documents, including a display template, exhibition script, and planning checklists.
Workshop Timeline:
12:30-1:30pm - Exhibit Opening (hallway space between Harvest Hall and McMaster Hall, Brandon University)
1:30-2pm - Light lunch (Louis Riel Room, Brandon University)
2-5pm - Workshop (Louis Riel Room, Brandon University)
Workshop Location and Accessibility Information:
The Louis Riel Room is located between Harvest Hall (#6 on map) and McMaster Hall (#5 on map). The closest accessible entrance is on the north side of the walkway between Harvest Hall and Darrach Hall (#7 on map).
Participants who require an accessible parking option should contact Brandon University Ancillary Services office at (204) 727-7394 or parking@brandonu.ca.
Facilitator Biographies:
Rhonda Hinther co-founded and runs Brandon University’s Public History Program. Prior to joining Brandon University, she held senior curatorial positions at two of Canada’s national museums. She has also consulted on and appeared in several historical films. She holds a PhD in Canadian history from McMaster University. Her research interests include gender, labour and working class history. In addition to teaching at BU, she is presently writing a book on an extended Ukrainian-Jewish family’s WWII internment experiences and researching North American brothel museums, examining their treatment of sex worker histories and experiences from the mid-nineteenth to late-twentieth centuries.
Grace Wowchuk is a public history student at Brandon University.
LJ Fulugan is a first-year grad student at the University of Manitoba and University of Winnipeg's joint master's program in archival studies. Their background is in sociocultural and critical anthropology, with their undergraduate degree completed via exchange in Aarhus, Denmark. Currently, LJ is a digital archivist at the University of Manitoba Libraries whose work involves processing the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections' digital backlog.
Alanna Horejda has a degree in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology from the University of Saskatchewan, and an honours diploma in Applied Museum Studies from Algonquin College. She has over 25+ years of experience working in museum and archives including the Australian Credit Union Archives, Western Development Museum- History of Transportation, Parks Canada Dawson Historical Complex, Parks Canada Conservation Laboratory, Canadian Museum of History and the Transcona Museum and Archives.
Krystal Payne is a settler archivist and PhD student, studying colonial archives, archival sovereignty and harm, healing and trauma in the archives. She works as a Repatriation Archivist at the University of Manitoba, is the Research Project Director of the Indigenous Tuberculosis Histories Project and is a Research Fellow with Kishaadigeh Collaborative Research Centre. She also works with the Archives and Digital Media Lab supporting decolonizing archival work that documents and protects archives and heritage in Gaza, and throughout Palestine, Lebanon and the Global South through the Fighting Erasure and Pedagogy for Liberation projects.
Sarah Ramsden is the Senior Archivist at the City of Winnipeg Archives, where she has worked since 2013. She is a graduate of the University of Manitoba Archival Studies MA programme and studied history at Brandon University and Queen’s University. In addition to her role with the City, she has gained valuable professional and volunteer experience with Library and Archives Canada, the Archives of Manitoba, the Manitoba Historical Society, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. She is originally from northern Manitoba and was raised in Killarney, Manitoba.
