History of Touchstones Nelson: Museum of Art and History
The history of Touchstones Nelson: Museum of Art and History (Nelson and District Museum, Archives, Art Gallery and Historical Society) began in 1955 when the Kootenay Museum Association was formed. The museum had a number of locations over the years including the former Post Office in the 1950s to an abandoned brothel on Lake Street. In 1971, a new building at 402 Anderson Street was constructed with funding from the British Columbia Centennial of Confederation. At that time there were no funds for the construction of an art gallery. The museum opened there in 1974.After the closure of the David Thompson University Centre and its art gallery in 1984, the museum opened the Mildred Erb Gallery. In 1994, partial operating funds were secured from the provincial government, followed by similar funding from the City of Nelson, and these enabled the hiring of one staff member.
In 2000, the Kootenay Museum Association officially changed its name to the Nelson and District Museum, Archives, Art Gallery and Historical Society (MAAG).
Since 1994, the Society had been seeking a larger and more centrally located facility. The quest culminated with the Society’s 2006 opening of Touchstones Nelson in the (now) renovated heritage Post Office in which life had begun some fifty years earlier.
