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Mark Smerchanski, M.P. for Provencher, Geologist, Bruce Dunlop and Museum Curator, Sam Waller
circa 1970
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
Sam Waller Little Northern Museum Collections

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In 1957 Sam retired from teaching, but continued to teach occasionally.

Even though he no longer needed his large collection as a teaching aid, he did not want to discard it and instead wanted a place in which he could display it. Since his salary would not build a building, he purchased a lot of land from a friend at 1359 Gordon Avenue and bought two long, narrow buildings (bunkhouses) from The Pas Lumber Company. He then moved them onto his lot arranged in a t-shape.

It was then Sam realized he needed a provincial license to run a Museum but because the application was intended for a much larger establishment and included questions that were not relevant to his museum, Sam found it difficult to complete. Discouraged, Sam took the application to the Town Offices for help. An official there simply took the papers and told Sam he would handle it. Soon after, Sam received his license in the mail, so that the Little Northern Museum could officially open its doors on February 1, 1958. Living on meager pensions and the proceeds of the donation box, he offered a unique experience to museum visitors. This was the beginning of the Little Northern Museum also known as the "Cluttertorium" and "The Museum with a Difference" and it was the first of its kind in the north outside of Winnipeg.

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Sam Waller in his home
circa 1961
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
Sam Waller Museum Collection

4

Sam Waller Holding an Artifact
28 August 1952
Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
Sam Waller Museum Collection

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His museum contained a wide variety of specimens representative of the three main natural sciences: botany, zoology (including ornithology and mammology), and geology (including mineralogy and paleontology). It contained approximately 270 botanical specimens, 1200 individual geological specimens, and 1150 bird specimens alone by 1987.

He did not just feature his large permanent collection, but held temporary exhibits as well.

Sam believed small museums should exist and collect everything they could, otherwise our historical items would end up across the border and when we decided to finally put emphasis on history, we would have to buy back Canadian history at American prices. He thought that he offered a unique experience and helped to preserve the history of small areas that normally would be ignored in the shadow of bigger cities and museums.

As his collection had long outgrown its home due to Sam's scrounging, trading, and field collecting as well as through the donations of his many visitors, the Rotary Club built an expansion to the Little Northern Museum as a centennial project for the Province. It was a bungalow style building that housed both Sam and his collection opening its doors September 1, 1970.

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Exterior of Sam Waller's Little Northern Museum
circa 1960
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
Bob Pin

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Sam Waller holding a snowy owl
circa 1960
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
Sam Waller Museum Collection

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After Sam's death in 1978, his museum duties were passed on to Vernon Wang who, like the many curators after him, followed in Sam's footsteps and continued to trade artifacts and information with other museums and individuals from around the globe. Some examples are the Manitoba Forest Association Incorporated and Manitoba Museum of Man & Nature.

They also continued to learn and grow in their knowledge of both Sam's collection and how to care for it in hopes that it would last for generations to come. In 1980 the National Museums of Canada performed the lux and hydrothermograph checks through the Mobile Conservation Laboratory program and the Curator, Pat Plaxton, was later sent a packet on preserving artifacts, the handling of artifacts, how to fumigate, write accession numbers, and the preservation and care of wet specimens.

In 1983, the Museum's 25th Anniversary and five years after his death, Sam was once again honored. Among his many interests, Sam was a philatelist. Since a commemorative stamp was out of the reach of the Little Northern Museum, they sponsored Canada Post's use of a stamp cancellation announcing their anniversary (stamp cancellation die). Since he also loved ornithology, they took his research of birds that appeared in The Pas during winter and produced a handout with drawings pointing out the identifying features of each bird. The Little Northern Museum also printed their first poster advertising the museum and held an historical conference.