Our museum is gearing up for the season with lots of behind-the-scene things going on. Staff hiring and training and grounds and building cleanups take a lot of time to organize and carry out.
A big bouquet of thanks to all the people around the world who care about their heritage and who work to preserve it for the future.
Yay Museums and Archives!!
http://icom.museum/what-we-do/activities/international-museum-day/imd-2012.html
~ Lucille B.
A group of students came to the museum today and brought with them a willingness to do anything we needed to have done. What a gift and I took advantage of the offer!
We have over a dozen buildings and this often means that things need to be moved from one place to another. In planning exhibits, it is necessary and cost effective to use existing display cases. There is very little budgeting for ‘new’ in the small museum. Use and re-use is what we do. Our Church building is being used for a special Centennial Exhibit space this summer.
So the students and their teacher moved panels from one building to another and moved church pews out of the way.
Then furniture acquisitions were moved and outdoor picnic tables were re-located.
All in all, it was a lot of work in a short time.
I can’t thank them enough. Our young people make great volunteers for their community.
~ Lucille B.
For quite some time I have been thinking that for small town museums to thrive and maybe even survive, they need to evolve into true community centres. Visitor statistics at museums reveal that 85% of visitors go to museums because of events and they return because of events. So what does that tell me?
If we want more people at the museum, we need to plan more events. Focus time and money on events that people want to attend.
Now to put thinking into action. The hard part.
~ Lucille B.
Lorie & Jeanne, with the sometimes help of Louise, have been turning pages of old editions of the local newspaper. Turning, turning, turning. Searching in almost 100 years of newspapers for clues as to what business was open when and where in Cut Knife.
Sometimes it is necessary to take our questions to coffee row to have information validated by the ‘local experts’. Sometimes we have had to bring in one of these knowledgeable people to help fill in missing pieces of information. It is almost time to refine the signage and get it ready to put in place for the Centennial Celebration on June 30th.
Inevitably there will have been some information that was missed and there may have been some mistakes that are beyond our control. Yet the information gleaned will be there for others to access well beyond the Celebration this year.
Well done, ladies.
~ Lucille B.
“At museums, we mostly bond with the friends and family with whom we attend. Social bridging is harder to come by, especially as society becomes more striated. Bridging is essential to building strong, safe, diverse communities. There are few places where bridging happens naturally. If we can make our museum a place that intentionally encourages and inspires bridging, we will make a powerful impact on our whole community.”
Nina Simon on her blog.Â
This social bridging that Nina talks about reflects what our theme of “different cultures…prairie neighbours” at our museum is trying to accomplish. We need to find the time in our volunteer life to expand it in our exhibits and programs.Â
~ Lucille B.
Clayton McLain Memorial Museum 