Departments

Our prime aim is to provide the public with a rich source of cultural and natural history experiences. Our displays are set in some of Kimberley’s historic buildings and other fascinating locations. 

We continuously endeavour to produce display and design work of high quality.

Our main displays are found at the Atlas Street location where the Ancestors and Frontier displays are recent additions in our quest for relevance and service to our users. 

The Enviro Zone, Siege Gallery and Hall of Religions are popular attractions. We, together with researchers and collection managers, are responsible for the maintenance of these displays.

Vandalism of the displays is a sad fact that we have to deal with on a continuous basis at substantial cost to us. 

A forthcoming attraction is the Convent School Display, which will be erected on the first floor of the Museum in Atlas Street. Its opening coincides with the planned reunion of former pupils in June 2007.

Other major changes in the next few years will include geological and ethnological displays that reveal some of the treasures that “lie buried” in the respective collections. 

More current developments incorporate a shift of material from existing displays to a brand new one dealing with the History of Kimberley and its inhabitants over time. The venue will be the Alexander McGregor Memorial Museum in Chapel Street. A most recent addition to that Museum was the Malay Camp Display, which opened in September 2006. We found this to be an enriching experience, as we were able to meet residents of Kimberley with historic connections to the area and obtain objects for adding to the display.

The final touches are being applied to all the Chapel Street Museum displays and will be completed by December 2008.  The Time Capsule will be amongst the new additions..

Adjacent to the Atlas Street Museum is the Duggan-Cronin Gallery, which is being developed into a centre for the advancement of photography as a recording and art medium.

The display space already contains work by Duggan-Cronin in the excellent “Thanda Bantu” exhibition as well as the “Children of Democracy” temporary display. 

A forthcoming temporary exhibition by Cedric Nunn in mid-March will coincide with the official opening of the restored and modernised gallery, storerooms and research facilities.

At the Magersfontein Museum there is currently extensive maintenance work under way, as well as at some of our other satellite museums. 

We assist regional museums as part of our service to the public. 

We also have access to the services of a highly skilled maintenance and carpentry workshop to aid us in the process of building new displays and maintaining older ones.

Desktop and design work comprise the bulk of our daily routine. We have produced much material for professional officers at the Museum used at conferences and for publications.

Some of the latest publications that we contributed towards include the Green Point & Malay Camp booklets, which were produced for the respective opening events and displays. 

The McGregor Museum Annual Reports are designed and compiled by the Display & Design Section in collaboration with an editing team.

Most of the design and layout work needed for display panels, posters, publications and other applications are produced with the aid of computers.

We use clay-modelling technique to produce replicas and dioramas as an added dimension to the displays.

Another important display and communication tool that you are currently using is the web page, which was redesigned by ourselves. 

Our team consists of three artists/ designers:

Marie Lodewyk and Tanja Kruger.

We all originate from this region and enjoy contributing to the promotion and understanding of its history and people.   We would like to receive any input from you concerning our Museum displays and your thoughts on any new and relevant issues that warrant “exploration” in a museum context. 

We would also like to receive information from all the various and talented artists that contributed to the Museum’s displays, in the past, for inclusion in a publication on the history of the Museum which will be launched as part of the Centenary celebrations in September 2007  

Please feel free to contact us.