Visiting Mr. Collins

This week Karin and I went to the Museum of Natural History for a meeting and took an opportunity to lure Paul Collins, CMAP Manager out for lunch in the Halifax Public Gardens.

Lunch breaks are a rarity at the ANSM office, but a chance to see the gardens in their summer splendor while catching up on museum happenings was not to be missed.
A major topic of our lunchtime conversation was the Passage DB software and the imminent - really imminent need - for its upgrade.

The SDI program - managed by Paul as part of his CMAP program - has always been an important support for the community database project known as the Passage Project.
The 2010 SDI deadline is fast approaching and ANSM staff are working hard towards a working solution for the future of the collections management database. So far things are looking good.... now we need to pull our proposal together.....

Committee on the Road

Last week the Information Technology & Collections Management Advisory Committee (fondly referred to as the Itchy Committee) met up at  Randall House Museum. We were hosted by committee chair, Derek Watts of Wolfville Historical Society in this fine heritage building in downtown Wolfville. We carpooled from various parts of the province and committee members appreciated the opportunity to visit a fellow museum site while undertaking some committee business. As ever, the committee worked through a full agenda with several hot topics for consideration. Check out Karin's blog for regular updates on all things IT and Passage related.

Committee members include (LtoR) Me, Dayle Crouse of  Pictou Heritage Society, Aidan Norton of Colchester County Museum, Derek Watts of Wolfville Historical Society, Valerie Lenethen of NS Heritage Division, Karin Kierstead of ANSM.
Missing from the photo are Gail Magee of Fultz House Museum (joined us via Sykpe), Linda Rafuse of Queen's County Museum & Jim MacLean of Port Hastings Historical Society.

South West Mission

Last week saw the annual CMAP evaluation teams' migration from their training site to CMAP museums around the province. This year, our willing training camp was the Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum www.atlanticcanadaaviationmuseum.com. Following our orientation session, we went on a tour with Mike Garvey, long time supporter of the museum plus former pilot for several of the aircraft on display. A great tour and very much appreciated by the evaluation gang. Thanks Mike.

Sustained with lunch and cookies for the road, we launched ourselves on our various missions.....

My team included Julie Morand of Canadian Heritage and Aidan Norton of Colchester County Museum. We had some time to spare when we arrived in our overnight location, so went to visit some nearby sites.
North Hills Museum http://northhills.museum.gov.ns.ca
is a real little treasure located just outside Granville Ferry. Beautiful early Nova Scotian home in a lovely location. We toured the house with well informed and enthusiastic Interpreter, Wayne Smith. I wanted to move in.

Because it was sunny evening and so close by, we went for a quick look around the grounds of Port Royal National Historic Site http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/ns/portroyal/index.aspx just at closing time.  My last visit was at night in the fog, and so received a completely different impression of the site. It is situated on a headland over looking the Annapolis Basin and offers a fabulous view. Canada's earliest reconstruction of a heritage site, it provides a rich glimpse into early French habitation on the North American continent. Port Royal was a recent participating site in the Membertou 400 celebrations. Check out Ryan Scranton's blog http://annapolisroyalheritage.blogspot.com/2010/06/membertou-400.html. This photo is of the main entryway to the fort - it is my photography that is crooked - not the fort!

The next day we began our evaluations and travelled right around the coastline of South West Nova Scotia. Our adventures included ferry trips, travels in and out of the fog, really great food, and an unfortunate incident during which I left the car key inside one of our evaluation sites at the end of the day and had to be rescued. Slowed us down somewhat, but a great example of rural Nova Scotia in action. I went next door confident the neighbour would know who I needed to contact. She did, with the phone number conveniently located right by her phone and rescue was quickly dispatched. Thanks again to Dorothy's husband and neighbour, Jane, for rescue support.

We enjoyed supper and a visit with Cheryl Stanton of Admiral Digby Museum http://www.admuseum.ns.ca
Lots going on at her site over the summer months with regular farmer's market on the grounds plus tea party events and art openings. Also acted as a donation delivery agent for the museum. Multitasking is the name of the game.

Made our weary way back to Halifax arriving in the city late Friday evening with our mission accomplished. General agreement amoungst Team 3 and everyone I have spoken to that participating in the evaluation process is as much a valuable experience for those evaluating as for those being evaluated. Definitely lots of food for thought. Thanks to Julie and Aidan for being great travelling companions as well as professional and diligent team members and to all at the participating museums for their welcome and cooperation - you know who you are....

Cape Breton Travels

I recently traveled to the Sydney area and participated in a special one day workshop lead by Dr. Candace Matelic and hosted by a partnership of Heritage Cape Breton, Louisbourg Institute, CBU Shannon School of Business & Fortress of Louisbourg NHS.

The workshop was titled "From the Heart: Engaging Community & Interpreting What Matters" and was focused on building relationships between museums and their communities. Candace's position that developing healthy community engagement through a vital interpretation program as part of a strong strategic plan was presented in a compelling and well informed workshop. Definitely food for thought for those in attendance and I know Candace and the presentation partners are interested in providing a more in depth opportunity to explore the subject for museum workers next spring.

Click here  to view her full resume. Candace has recently developed a new Template for Strategic Interpretation and Program Planning and a new planning tool, Cardinal Rules for Visitor-Centered Historic Site Development.

Next day I meet up with ANSM President, Pauline Thomson, and we went for a visit around several museum sites in Sydney's historic north end. Its a treasure trove of heritage buildings in a special part of the city.

Peyton Chisholm of the Old Sydney Society, meet us at the Cape Breton Centre for Heritage & Science in the old Lyceum Theatre building. Several recent upgrades have been made to the centre, in particular in the provision of disabled access to the building and its facilities. Looking really good.

We also went with Peyton to see Saint Patrick's Church, which is also operated by the Old Sydney Society. This venerable stone structure was built in 1828 and is something of a hybrid of church architectural styles. Currently, it is home to furnishings and fittings from churches related to a variety of denominations in the Sydney area as well as a series of well presented interpretaion panels. During summer opening months, local theatre productions will use the church as a venue.

Jost House was next on our list. We received a warm welcome and while I toured the house with volunteer Ray, Pauline caught up on the news with Eileen and then we had tea. Jost House is a treasure and clearly well loved by the Jost House Society members who operate it. The house is interpreted on two floors to represent its early use with the top floor used for local history displays and Jost family history. Architecturally, the house is very similar to Cossit House across the road and Quaker House in Dartmouth.

We finished our tour at Cossit House. This site is part the Nova Scotia Museum family and is operated on behalf of the province by the Old Sydney Society. The house features a fine selection of period furnishings and includes material, most notably a journal, owned by original occupants of the house. Another link to Quaker House in Dartmouth, aside from strong architectural familiarities, is the presence of concealed foot ware in the house walls. This tradition originally came from England and has been found practiced throughout the Maritimes and New England States. Families would conceal a single, well worn shoe in the walls of a new home as a charm towards health, wealth and happiness. The back yard features traditional raised beds which staff tend with heirloom veg & flowers over the growing season. In true museum worker fashion and in the standing tradition of dedication which typifies those who work in the province's museums, the seedlings are started and tended at home well prior to site opening for the year.