Mail, Rail, and Retail Exhibition Comes to the Revelstoke Railway Museum

June 26th marked the public opening of a brand new exhibition at the Revelstoke Railway Museum (British Columbia). The exhibition explores the contribution of three corporations that contributed to the making of Canada’s modern history: the Canada Post Corporation, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Hudson’s Bay Company. The exhibit, entitled “Mail, Rail, and Retail: Connecting Canadians” is the result of an equal partnership between Canada Post, CPR, HBC, and the Canadian Postal Museum, (at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Québec) which houses the Canada Post’s collections.

Canada Post, Canadian Pacific Railway, and Hudson’s Bay Company were among Canada’s first major enterprises, and are among the handful of businesses in Canada that continue to exist in their original forms. Whether through letters new immigrants sent home about fertile land for farming, the availability of transportation by rail to new settlements, or the goods settlers needed to live in harsh conditions, the three
enterprises played roles that were essential to populating and developing Canada.

“The Board of Trustees of the Revelstoke Heritage Railway Society and I are thrilled that the Revelstoke Railway Museum has been chosen to host this important exhibition,” said Roberto Rodriguez, the Museum’s Executive Director. “Visitors will see how important mail, rail, and retail were to the history of Canada’s formative years and, in today’s context, will appreciate the role they play and will play in Canada’s present and future prosperity.”

The Mail, Rail, and Retail exhibition is structured around six main themes:

• Connecting Canadians – showing how mail, rail, and retail have contributed to Canada’s development
• Linking a Nation – tracing the development of communication and transportation that enabled the movement of information and goods across Canada
• Immigration and Settlement – depicting how government, in conjunction with private sector rail and retail, supported initiatives that encouraged immigration and helped new immigrants settle in Canada
• Urban and Suburban Development – showing how cities developed around the communication, transportation, and retail services provided by the local post office, railway station and retail store
• The Inside View – chronicling the employment opportunities created by rail, mail, and retail services and their contribution to local economies
• Glimpse into the Future – depicting the continuing partnership between mail, rail, and retail services and their potential for helping Canada grow and prosper in the decades ahead.

Collectively, the histories of Canada Post, CPR, and Hudson’s Bay Company total more than seven hundred years. Hudson’s Bay Company was established in 1670 and is Canada’s oldest corporation. Its first employees traveled to remote regions to trap and trade furs, exploring and mapping Canada’s frontiers in the process. Many of them were the first Europeans to set foot in Canada’s remote regions. The Canadian Pacific Railway was established in 1881 to build Canada’s first transcontinental railway, and provided rail service from coast to coast at a time when the horse was still the principal means of transportation in Canada.

The promise of a transcontinental railway brought British Columbia into confederation. Organized postal service began in 1693 with the delivery of letters between Montreal and Québec City. The country’s first government post office opened in Halifax in 1755, and in 1851 the government of the Province of Canada took over responsibility for the Post Office from the British Post Office. Canada Post became a Crown corporation in 1981.

The Mail, Rail, and Retail exhibition opened in June and will remain open to the public through January 8th, 2006.

Article provided by Revelstoke Tourism.

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