Cuyler Page Last year well-respected Heritage Consultant Cuyler Page created a Development or Concept Plan for RJ Haney Heritage Village. This month his plan is under review. The Salmon Arm Museum’s Board of Directors is looking at its long range plan for the Village and prioritizing projects identified by Page. Ever since I became involved at RJ Haney Heritage Village, I’ve felt there was a disconnect between the individual stories we tell and the presentation of the Village as a whole. More than twenty years after the first building was moved onto the site, we’re still developing a street. All involved know we’ve come a long way. It has been a journey. We’ve got a church and school, two early structures that were typically built when communities emerged. Early settlers yearned for a place to worship collectively. They also needed a place to educate their children. We’ve had great success getting groups involved to construct buildings that interest them. The Volunteer Firemen’s Association built a replica of the Fire Hall. The Filling Station was moved to the site and reconstructed thanks to the Shuswap Chapter of the Vintage Car Club. They went on to build a scale model of the Lester and Thomson Garage. Thanks to a family-owned business, a scale representation of the Newnes Blacksmith Shop was constructed. The Beemish Building completes the commercial street to date. Two more houses were added to the Village in the last two years. The Laitinen log home and Fraser Avenue house give a feeling of density. Those buildings have yet to be restored and exhibits developed. Money is needed to complete these projects. Other buildings are obviously missing from the village street. A general store with a contract for mail was the first commercial building constructed in Salmon Arm after the railway went through. Fortunately or unfortunately there are no plans to replicate the brewery and gambling house at the end of the wharf that predated the general store. Its story is entertaining, but the structure wasn’t meeting a community need. It was built as a temporary venture to amuse the railway workers passing through the area. The gambling house was also the location of Salmon Arm’s first recorded murder. Not an event that celebrates community growth! So what priorities are set for development? Some won’t cost a lot of money. Others will happen as funding is secured: 1. Move the informational Kiosk at the parking lot and access path to orient new visitors and improve their experience. 2. With the construction of the new SASCU Presents Haney Theatre in 2012, reclaim parking area and old theatre site adjacent to Marjorie’s Tearoom for a playground and install playground equipment. 3. Move log house from the parking lot to an identified homestead site, reconstruct the “Peterson” log barn for our farmer, give the two buildings a purpose, and create an orchard to tell our fruit growing history. 4. Move filling station across the road so that it visually connects with the post 1920 development at the end of the street. This will provide a much needed space for the McGuire General Store, an early landmark that was on the corner of Front Street – or Lakeshore – and Alexander. The General Store will anchor the community. 5. Move the Mt. Ida Methodist Church so that it is perpendicular to its original spot, placing it at the end of the road and giving it a presence in our developing community. (The little church is currently dwarfed by the two storey museum building. Relocating the church is not a huge issue as it sits temporarily on concrete filled sona tubes). 6. Build McGuire General Store 7. Build a building to represent the historic commercial block with a public meeting/gallery space and washrooms. The building may include exhibits of a bank, barbershop and “dentist”, post office, surveyor’s office, clothing store, lawyer’s office, and the newspaper. 8. Build a band shell. The planning process has many Board Members and Advisory Committee Members excited. Senior staff are also sharing the vision. If we harness this excitement good things will happen. All of us look forward to the next twenty years. We’ll have created something to be proud of. Site plan by Cuyler Page
Last year well-respected Heritage Consultant Cuyler Page created a Development or Concept Plan for RJ Haney Heritage Village. This month his plan is under review. The Salmon Arm Museum’s Board of Directors is looking at its long range plan for the Village and prioritizing projects identified by Page.
Ever since I became involved at RJ Haney Heritage Village, I’ve felt there was a disconnect between the individual stories we tell and the presentation of the Village as a whole. More than twenty years after the first building was moved onto the site, we’re still developing a street. All involved know we’ve come a long way. It has been a journey. We’ve got a church and school, two early structures that were typically built when communities emerged. Early settlers yearned for a place to worship collectively. They also needed a place to educate their children. We’ve had great success getting groups involved to construct buildings that interest them. The Volunteer Firemen’s Association built a replica of the Fire Hall.
Thanks to a family-owned business, a scale representation of the Newnes Blacksmith Shop was constructed. The Beemish Building completes the commercial street to date.
Two more houses were added to the Village in the last two years. The Laitinen log home and Fraser Avenue house give a feeling of density. Those buildings have yet to be restored and exhibits developed. Money is needed to complete these projects.
Other buildings are obviously missing from the village street. A general store with a contract for mail was the first commercial building constructed in Salmon Arm after the railway went through. Fortunately or unfortunately there are no plans to replicate the brewery and gambling house at the end of the wharf that predated the general store. Its story is entertaining, but the structure wasn’t meeting a community need. It was built as a temporary venture to amuse the railway workers passing through the area. The gambling house was also the location of Salmon Arm’s first recorded murder. Not an event that celebrates community growth!
So what priorities are set for development? Some won’t cost a lot of money. Others will happen as funding is secured:
1. Move the informational Kiosk at the parking lot and access path to orient new visitors and improve their experience.
2. With the construction of the new SASCU Presents Haney Theatre in 2012, reclaim parking area and old theatre site adjacent to Marjorie’s Tearoom for a playground and install playground equipment.
3. Move log house from the parking lot to an identified homestead site, reconstruct the “Peterson” log barn for our farmer, give the two buildings a purpose, and create an orchard to tell our fruit growing history.
4. Move filling station across the road so that it visually connects with the post 1920 development at the end of the street. This will provide a much needed space for the McGuire General Store, an early landmark that was on the corner of Front Street – or Lakeshore – and Alexander. The General Store will anchor the community.
5. Move the Mt. Ida Methodist Church so that it is perpendicular to its original spot, placing it at the end of the road and giving it a presence in our developing community. (The little church is currently dwarfed by the two storey museum building. Relocating the church is not a huge issue as it sits temporarily on concrete filled sona tubes).
6. Build McGuire General Store
7. Build a building to represent the historic commercial block with a public meeting/gallery space and washrooms. The building may include exhibits of a bank, barbershop and “dentist”, post office, surveyor’s office, clothing store, lawyer’s office, and the newspaper.
8. Build a band shell.
The planning process has many Board Members and Advisory Committee Members excited. Senior staff are also sharing the vision. If we harness this excitement good things will happen. All of us look forward to the next twenty years. We’ll have created something to be proud of.
Site plan by Cuyler Page
Unidentified youngster with Santa. Can you help? Email us at samha@sunlite.ca
There’s snow at RJ Haney Heritage Village and the City continues to keep the roadway plowed and sanded. Volunteers and staff come and go daily. Most years staff and volunteers use the quiet season to catch up on backlogs accumulated over the summer. This year isn’t typical though. The archives room is a busy place and new projects have been started.
Seven volunteers are working on projects. One person catalogues new acquisitions. Three others are indexing the Salmon Arm Observer. Another works assigning key terms to photographs. Then there’s the tax record project…and a sixth volunteer is indexing those records to 1958.
Two paid staff members on a Job Creation Project are working on scanning negatives and photographs, creating an online exhibit based on one of our exhibits, and digitizingtaped interviews from the 1980s. Sometimes the 350 square foot room is just too noisy a place to think!
New to the scene is a recent history graduate, James Fensom. Staff and volunteers have welcomed James and his interest in the Salmon Arm Observer project. He is matching the newspaper publication dates and photograph cut lines, the tag that appears below each photo, to corresponding images. Not only will this make cataloguing the images easier, it will make more information accessible to the public. James is working on 1974….which is a few years before he was born! The other volunteers smile, though, and tease him. He’s working on “recent” history.
The volunteers have appointed their own shop steward to keep things running smoothly and the curator/archivist in line. Anne Grant comes with experience. She’s held the position in her former employment and, although petite, has a mighty presence in the archives room. She coordinates schedules, vacations, and appointments. She also makes sure management doesn’t take advantage of “her” volunteers.
Recently General Manager Susan Mackie asked volunteers to decorate Marjorie's Tea Room for the Christmas party December 11th. Archives volunteer Lise Ouimet did the job last year with Museum staff Pam Tompson. This year Pam's taking it easy. She's off on medical leave, recovering from surgery.
Lise thought about the request. “No,” she said firmly. “I can’t come on one of my archives days. I need to do my work. I have data entry to do on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.”
Then Lise reconsidered. She loves to decorate and the Christmas season. “I’ll come on Friday afternoon.” Friday is Lise’s day off.
Thank you Tammy, David, Lise, Marion, Anne, Janice, James, the newbie, and the two Rosemarys.
November 2011
Friend of the Archives passes Former owner and publisher of the Salmon Arm Observer, Denis Marshall passed away on October 8, 2011. That day we lost a valuable friend at the Salmon Arm Museum. When Denis returned to Salmon Arm in the 1990s, he took out a membership at the Salmon Arm Museum. Being a member has rights and privileges. One is to help with spring clean up. We called Denis. He came. It was pretty obvious that cleaning wasn't Denis' idea of preserving history. So Denis joined OHS and began editing their publications, which was more in keeping. It was familiar ground for Denis. When he started publishing his books through OHS, the Salmon Arm Museum was encouraged to ask OHS for help with special projects. Over the last decade revenues from book sales purchased many things for the Ernie Doe Archives Room. After his fourth book, Denis had a brilliant idea. He offered to index the Salmon Arm Observer, to record in point form the events that shaped our community. He wanted to index 1907 to 1950. Denis made it to 1948. Behind Denis is a secretarial pool of volunteers typing his index into a database. The "girls" include Rosemary Blair, Marion Williams, Janice Darbyson, and Rosemary Wilson and they've made it to 1940. We're better able to serve our patrons at the museum because Denis has created this index. About a month ago I decided to write Denis a note, telling him what he meant to the Museum, to me and to Salmon Arm. Through the proceeds of his books, he had injected the cash needed to purchase a machine to read the Observer newspaper, expand the archives, and create an excellent work environment. His books were impeccably researched and will provide storylines for future exhibits. He identified people in photographs and turned over his hard copies. In short Denis had done so much more than me. That day Denis broke one of his own rules after he opened his mail. He called me at suppertime. He was touched by my card and said gruffly that writing the history and indexing the Observer were his life's work. Thank you Denis.
Friend of the Archives passes
Former owner and publisher of the Salmon Arm Observer, Denis Marshall passed away on October 8, 2011. That day we lost a valuable friend at the Salmon Arm Museum.
When Denis returned to Salmon Arm in the 1990s, he took out a membership at the Salmon Arm Museum. Being a member has rights and privileges. One is to help with spring clean up. We called Denis. He came. It was pretty obvious that cleaning wasn't Denis' idea of preserving history.
When he started publishing his books through OHS, the Salmon Arm Museum was encouraged to ask OHS for help with special projects. Over the last decade revenues from book sales purchased many things for the Ernie Doe Archives Room.
After his fourth book, Denis had a brilliant idea. He offered to index the Salmon Arm Observer, to record in point form the events that shaped our community. He wanted to index 1907 to 1950. Denis made it to 1948.
Behind Denis is a secretarial pool of volunteers typing his index into a database. The "girls" include Rosemary Blair, Marion Williams, Janice Darbyson, and Rosemary Wilson and they've made it to 1940. We're better able to serve our patrons at the museum because Denis has created this index.
About a month ago I decided to write Denis a note, telling him what he meant to the Museum, to me and to Salmon Arm. Through the proceeds of his books, he had injected the cash needed to purchase a machine to read the Observer newspaper, expand the archives, and create an excellent work environment. His books were impeccably researched and will provide storylines for future exhibits. He identified people in photographs and turned over his hard copies.
In short Denis had done so much more than me.
That day Denis broke one of his own rules after he opened his mail. He called me at suppertime. He was touched by my card and said gruffly that writing the history and indexing the Observer were his life's work.
Thank you Denis.
October 2011 Bonnie Thomas did something amazing on October 5th.When she stood up at the annual community meeting to accept a grant from the Shuswap Community Foundation, she spoke about community. She was accepting funding for a ride-on mower for the Mary Thomas Cultural Centre and Heritage Sanctuary. The grant to the Heritage Sanctuary was a first. The Shuswap Community Foundation had never received an application nor given money to any Secwepemc group. With grace and ease, Bonnie talked about her mother, the much respected late Dr. Mary Thomas. “Wealth,” her mother used to say, "is measured by how much is given away."
Bonnie Thomas did something amazing on October 5th.When she stood up at the annual community meeting to accept a grant from the Shuswap Community Foundation, she spoke about community. She was accepting funding for a ride-on mower for the Mary Thomas Cultural Centre and Heritage Sanctuary. The grant to the Heritage Sanctuary was a first. The Shuswap Community Foundation had never received an application nor given money to any Secwepemc group.
With grace and ease, Bonnie talked about her mother, the much respected late Dr. Mary Thomas. “Wealth,” her mother used to say, "is measured by how much is given away."
With that simple sentence, Bonnie connected the community of grant recipients, donors, and guests. We were celebrating the annual awards to community charities. The award was part of a chain of events. It started with one question from this Curator when I was visiting Bonnie at the Sanctuary. We were talking about a new display at Haney Heritage Village. I was wearing two hats. The second was as the Chair of the Grant Selection Committee. All the committee members are on the lookout for community groups that do good work, so I asked Bonnie what the Heritage Sanctuary needed most.
Bonnie thought about the question. She talked to Louis, her brother, and colleague at the centre. Louis had been mowing and weed-wacking all summer with borrowed mowers and trimmers. Band members were generous, but the centre needed its own ride-on mower. Anyone visiting the site could see the proper tools were needed to do the job, so I approached the Salmon Arm Museum's Board of Directors and it agreed to sponsor the project.
But what did Bonnie Thomas do that was so amazing on October 5th? In the true spirit of community, she brought a gift. It was a beaded eagle feather, a treasured gift, wrapped in a beautiful scarf. You could have heard a pin drop when she gave the feather to the donor responsible for the grant, Bill Douhaniuk.[1] It was a gift for the giver, drawing a new circle in our community.
Thank you Bonnie!
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[1] Bill Douhaniuk set up a fund in memory of his sister Mary Douhaniuk who spent her nursing career working with the First Nations.
September 2011
Great News! The Salmon Arm Museum’s archives room is the recipient of the 2011 Terry Reksten Memorial Award! Administered by the Friends of the British Columbia Archives, the annual award is given to a British Columbia public archive with less than three full time archivists.
Salmon Arm Museum staff applied to the adjudication committee last June, noting the need to purchase acid free envelopes for a very special donation. Last year, over the Christmas holiday, almost three decades of Salmon Arm Observer photographs were donated. The gift was an unexpected Christmas present.
Rick Proznick, Publisher of the Salmon Arm Observer, handed forty-two boxes of graphic images. The images represented the Observer’s last twenty-six years of print making from the mid seventies to the new millennium. In 2001 the Observer went digital and no longer developed traditional photographs, making the gift a last of its kind.
Thanks to the donation of one board member and the work of another, Rosemary Blair and Rosemary Wilson, the collection has already been re-boxed into acid free boxes. The next step is to match the images to the newspaper publication, glean any information from the newspaper, catalogue each photograph, and place each one in its own acid free envelope. It is a big job, but the staff and volunteers at the Salmon Arm Museum are up to the challenge. It’ll make quite the winter project.
The Terry Reksten Memorial Award is $1,000 and will start the project nicely. Much more, however, is needed. If you are interested in contributing financially or would like to donate elbow grease, call the archives at 250-832-5289. We’d love to hear from you.
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Photo: Rosemary Wilson moving the reboxed photographs to the Ernie Doe Archives Room at the Salmon Arm Museum/Haney Heritage Village.
Terry Reksten, a member of the Friends of the British Columbia Archives, was well known for bringing the history of British Columbia alive through her books, including the best sellers "More English Than the English", "The Dunsmuir Saga", and "The Empress Hotel". Reksten, who was also a founding member of the Victoria Hallmark Society, passed away in 2001 at the age of 59. Her last book, "An Illustrated History of British Columbia" now another best seller, was published just two weeks before her death.
Terry's family asked that the Friends of the British Columbia Archives establish a memorial fund in her name to honour Terry and the work she did for preservation of the history and legacy of this province, and to endow an award for outstanding contributions to archives in British Columbia. Through several significant donations, the fund has grown rapidly. It has now reached an amount large enough to support an annual grant to assist local and community archives.
Source: http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/BC_About_Archives/terry.aspx
