DIGITAL LIBRARY

Thick as Thieves and When Our Eyes Touch run May 1 to November 8, 2026, at The Whyte in Banff AB. This exhibition explores connection, influence, and relationships that shape our world, inviting reflection on trust, power, and community. Presented alongside portrait paintings by founders Peter and Catharine Whyte, it opens a wider conversation about bonds that can be intimate, strategic, sustaining, and complicated. Organized and circulated by the MacKenzie Art Gallery, curat

This winter, a renewed energy filled The Whyte as the museum welcomed a major contemporary solo exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Elise Rasmussen, An Alpine Trilogy. Presented alongside it in the Rummel Room, Second Take: Histories of Film in the Rockies offers a complementary journey through cinematic and cultural memory.

Preparing the winter exhibitions offered an opportunity to reframe Peter and Catharine Whyte’s work. The discovery of numerous sketches from their 1937 Assiniboine trip, alongside Catharine’s vivid letters and Peter’s annotated photographs, revealed a richer story. Arranged chronologically, the exhibition invites viewers to follow the journey from bright autumn days through the gathering storm to a landscape transformed by fresh snow.

From delicate studio portraits to sweeping mountain panoramas, the Luxton Family Collection reveals how photographs reflect the lives, values, and curiosities of those who framed them. Spanning 1860 to 1960, the images trace evolving photographic practices, personal stories, and a changing Rockies landscape, from ornate Victorian portraits to early panoramic views of Banff, offering a vivid window into a century of memory, craft, and place.

Between 1915 and 1917, Ukrainian and Eastern European immigrants were imprisoned in Banff National Park’s Castle Mountain and Cave & Basin internment camps. Forced to build roads, hotels, and golf courses under harsh conditions, these “enemy aliens” endured starvation, abuse, and extreme weather. Today, the scars of this history remain, reminding visitors that the park’s beauty was shaped by both natural wonders and human suffering.

On a warm September evening, guests gathered beneath the glow of The Whyte for the inaugural Night at The Whyte fundraising dinner and live auction. The Heritage Gallery transformed into an intimate setting of candlelight, conversation, and community. From a curator’s tour with Joseph Sanchez to the energy of the live auction, the evening celebrated art, connection, and generosity in support of exhibitions, education, and storytelling in the Canadian Rockies.

On December 18, 2025, Chic Scott sat down with Barry Blanchard for a Fireside Chat at The Whyte. Barry Blanchard is one of Canada’s most accomplished and respected mountaineers. A legendary alpinist, guide, and author, Barry has played a pivotal role in shaping modern Canadian mountaineering and shares a long history and deep connection with Chic Scott.

Fourteen years later, the Fireside Chats at The Whyte remained a warm, community gathering. As Director of Archives and Special Collections Elizabeth Kundert-Cameron observed at the final event, familiar faces returned year after year, and Chic’s stories “evoked… the feeling of being at a family party.” What began as an open house in the Abegweit became a recorded oral history, preserved in The Whyte's Archives and Special Collections Library for future generations.

Set in 2119, What We Can Know imagines a world reshaped by war and climate disaster, where humanity survives on scattered islands and cultural memory is fragile. Thomas Metcalfe, a humanities scholar, becomes obsessed with a long-lost poem read once in 2014 and never seen again. Through dense archives, shifting narrators, and a dramatic second-half turn, Ian McEwan explores nostalgia, digital excess, and the uneasy question at the novel’s core: what can we really know about t

On November 1st, 2023, Frances Klatzel joined Chic Scott for a Fireside Chat at The Whyte. Born and raised in Calgary, she obtained a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Calgary and worked for the Canadian Parks Service for seven years. A trip to Nepal in 1980 changed her life; she helped create a museum of Sherpa culture, founded Mera Publications and co-founded CORE International.

This summer, The Whyte’s Heritage Gallery became one of Banff’s most inviting music venues with its Summer Performance Series. Five diverse shows - spanning Indigenous storytelling, prairie ballads, honky-tonk, R&B, and more - drew nearly 550 attendees. Artists and audiences alike praised the intimate, welcoming atmosphere, calling it a true community connector. Supported by The Rimrock Banff, the series added fresh energy to Banff’s cultural life.

In 1961, Andy Russell and his sons set out to document grizzly bears with respect rather than fear. Their groundbreaking film and book Grizzly Country challenged myths and revealed the bears’ true nature. Decades later, The Whyte restored the film, capturing Russell’s narration and adding Ian Tyson’s introduction. This preservation effort ensures new audiences can experience the powerful work that helped inspire awareness and protection of grizzlies and their habitat.