Allan Moses Bird Collection

The largest collection in the museum is the Allan Moses Bird Collection. There are 18 cases containing 300+ different species of birds, most of which can be seen on the Island. Allan Moses of Grand Manan was one of the most prolific taxidermists of his day. In 1953, he bequeathed his collection to the children of Grand Manan.

While on an African expedition with Mr. J. Sterling Rockefeller, Mr. Moses described the problems for birds in the Grand Manan Archipelago. This resulted in Mr. Rockefeller purchasing Kent island in 1930, and making it a Bird Sanctuary. In 1935, Mr. Rockefeller turned over Kent Island to Bowdoin College of Brunswick, Maine for use as a Scientific Station. Mr. Moses has been credited for the amazing comeback of the Eider Ducks and their breeding ground on Kent Island.

Walter B. McLaughlin Marine Gallery

The gallery includes the history of ship building, lighthouse keepers, the history of the first settlers on the Island. Commercial fishing from Seining, Weir fishing and Lobster fishing are all explained with informational displays. The gallery has items from the many vessels that have been lost at the sea. This gallery also holds a spectacular Fresnell Lighthouse lens, and the story of a Grand Mananer who because of his ingenuity helped to win WWII.

Geology of the Island

Thanks to a grant from the NB Ministry of Culture and Sport, the geology exhibit has been updated in 2011 with new displays in a new room.

The western coast of the island has high headlands that advance into the sea. This side is covered by thick Mesozoic lava flows around 201 million years old, and it is mostly uninhabited, with a bold front of basalt cliffs.  The eastern side of the island is low and quite level. A variety of schistose metamorphic rock formations underlie this side of the Island, which range in age between 618 and 535 million years. A major basin border fault is well exposed at Red Point, which separates the eastern and western packages of rocks.

Interesting minerals are in a large wall cabinet, while examples of island rock types are in a floor case. Photo posters with explanations are arranged for the three ages of Grand Manan geology. Two panoramic posters illustrate the geology of the Back of the Island, and Seven Days Work.

Visitors are invited to view beautiful tiny crystals through a stereo microscope.

For more about our island geology, see this Grand Manan Geology web page.

Willa Cather

The Willa Cather exhibit is on display in the main foyer. Ms. Cather was an American Pulitzer prize winner in 1923 for her novel, "One of Ours". In the mid 1920's - 1940 she was a regular summer resident. Her cottage has been restored and can be seen from a walking trail. Her wash basin stand, made from the freight shipping boxes her furniture was shipped in, is one of the items on display.

This wing contains a Reading Room and the Elmer Wilcox Lecture Room, which also acts as a gallery for artists to display their work, along with other exhibits which change annually. This year (2011), Sara Wormell, an accomplished young island photographer, has a photographic show on display called "Island View," in the Elmer Wilcox Room. All of her photographs will be available for purchase and her work is also for sale in our gift shop.