Representatives from nine museums located in the east-central district of Saskatchewan met on October 21 for the fall networking meeting. Sturgis hosted the meeting, holding it at Grace United Church.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Saskatchewan鈥檚 museums are divided into regional networks. The Sturgis and Preeceville museums belong to the Seneca Root network, along with the museums in Canora, Kamsack, Pelly, Veregin, Saltcoats, and Melville. This regional network is named after the Seneca plant which is native to east-central Saskatchewan. The plant鈥檚 root was harvested by early pioneers for its medicinal properties. The only museum not represented at the meeting was Saltcoats.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 At the meeting on Wednesday, each museum gave its yearend report. The sharing of this information gave insight into each museum鈥檚 challenges and accomplishments. It also stimulated fruitful discussion about things such as insurance policies and SaskCulture鈥檚 Animateurs.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Preeceville and District Heritage Museum reported that this year, they had three school tours. Visitors enjoyed their four theme rooms: electronics, 50s era, the beauty salon, and the fashion room. The end-of-season event was an ethnic dessert night in October. Prizes were awarded for the best costumes. Pictures of the desserts and costumes can be found on the museum鈥檚 Facebook page. The Preeceville museum鈥檚 board has plans underway to repaint the outside of their museum. The board consists of 10 members and it would like to recruit two more.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Sturgis Station House Museum reported on its busy and successful 2015 season. The board hired a curator from New Brunswick, Sarah Brown.
"To assist Sarah, Rachel Roelens of Preeceville was hired as the summer student,鈥� said Ang猫le Poirier. "The biggest job they accomplished this year was relocating the arrowhead exhibit (over 1,000 artifacts) into an organized cabinet near the museum鈥檚 entrance. The museum鈥檚 three major events this year were the opening tea in May; the 50s-themed 鈥淏ringing Back the Past鈥� event, featuring vintage vehicles, a reptile show, and a dance in June; and the Volunteer Recognition Day in August, complete with entertainment by Willie Jakubowski and Friends and. More than 70 loaves of clay oven-baked bread were sold.
The museum board also saw the completion of the new roof, which took over a year to plan and execute. Before and after pictures can be found on the museum鈥檚 Facebook page, she said.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Sturgis鈥� next big project is moving the Brookview School, located 10 km north of Sturgis, to the museum grounds. The schoolhouse was built in 1920 and was decommissioned in 1960. The foundation has been poured at the museum grounds, the school has been temporarily fortified, and the school will be moved free of charge courtesy of a local building mover. Once moved, the museum plans to set up a classroom exhibit in the schoolhouse and possibly use the school to host programs and attract visitors.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Sturgis Station House Museum board is active both summer and winter. During the off season, activities include applying for federal and provincial grants to pay the wages of the curator and summer student. Funding made available by SaskCulture and the Summer Student Works program are usually enough to pay the wages; if there is any shortfall, it is covered by museum fundraising.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 After each museum group had delivered their reports, the meeting broke for a soup-and-sandwich lunch. After lunch, May-Lin Polk, museums advisor from the Museums Association of Saskatchewan, made a presentation about museum programs and data management. She spoke about the importance of the oral history attached to artifacts and gave tips on how to collect and then showcase this intangible cultural heritage.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The dates of the next two network meetings was set as April 27 in Preeceville and October 26 in Veregin.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 After the meeting was adjourned, some attendees opted for a tour of the Sturgis Station House Museum. Despite the cold temperature in the building, the visitors enjoyed the tour as they discussed logistics such as storage, security, and preservation of artifacts.
Museum network meetings are important and informative because they allow the sharing of ideas between people with the same goal: to collect and preserve local history and culture, said Poirier.
"The Sturgis Station House Museum board was delighted to host the Seneca Root meeting and looks forward to the next one scheduled for April 2016," said Poirier.
