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Inspired by Time Travel with Elgin County Archives, I used our green screen to have some fun at the Archives! For more information about the program, please see the article in MAIGazine. 

As much as winter is not my favorite season - getting four boys in snowsuits every morning on top of our regular morning routine is like a full time job before even coming to work - I don’t wish it away. There is something peacefully beautiful as I watch the snowflakes falling out my office window. 

On CBC radio last week they interviewed a guest, a specialist in career shifts and big life changes. Normally, I have one ear on the radio, the other on the circus that is my house, but the change guru got my full attention when describing the usefulness of setting goals over stating New Year’s resolutions. As soon as you set an end point plus an evaluation measure, it’s a goal not an aimlessly thrown out resolution floating in the ether. 

There’s been a lot of information from us at the Museum and Archives lately about Anne Frank and the travelling exhibit from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. I say this not as promotion, rather to provide context for this blog because without that exhibit, it’s hard to say whether Donald Reid, Luva Perry, Harold Rogers or Erich Possin would be at the forefront of my work lately. 

We will be ending our exhibition year with a “cracking” good time – tutus, cookies, and Christmas trees included.

Can you believe how fast 2019 is slipping by? I am sitting at my desk reviewing my exhibit plan for 2020 and realize that I am due to write a blog. With this in mind and my exhibit plan in front of me…I think I will highlight what’s around the corner for the exhibits at the museum. This year we circulated nine exhibits with various themes- changing from student sculpted snowmen to model boats, from the St Lawrence Seaway flooding to birds in our backyard. 

With my thoughts in digitization and updating our online database (and let’s face it, since it's October I am also thinking about apple pie recipes) I often forget to slow down and remind myself of how researchers interact with resources at the archives. 

A tweet from the Society of American Archivists on October 2nd, 2019 during #AskanArchivist day pulled me away from scanning a photograph album from 1872 to ponder the question of how researchers locate and engage with records online:

Museums collect so that we tell the stories of our past and present. History can be warm and sunny, telling tales of family, love, community do-gooders, technological advances, medical breakthroughs, ancient places discovered underfoot. But from the happiest of histories - human misery and sadness are often underlying. 

“What’s the oldest thing in your collection?” asks a student during every high school research trip to the archives. It’s the question that weighs on a lot of historically minded people when they step into our space. The answer may be different today than it will be tomorrow. Don’t be mad that if you ask this question, my answer will always ride along with the caveat, TODAY, we believe the oldest item to be…

As the doors close on another summer, I look back and am grateful for another successful season at the Allan Macpherson House. August flew by, highlighted by Driftwood Theatre, Paper Making and an end of summer Ice Cream Social. Thank you to all of the guests, new faces and regulars, who made a trip to the Macpherson House a part of your summer story. Although afternoons at our beautiful historical home are over for the year, the new season of programming at the Museum is just about to kick off!  

Working at the museum this summer has been a wealth of experiences that have given me new perspectives, and a broader knowledge of collections work. It has both complimented and advanced what I have learned in my post-secondary, museum studies, education. The best thing I can say about this job as a collection assistant is that it is always interesting! I have loved getting to dig deep into an artifact’s history. Who made it? Who owned it? Why is it relevant to us in the County of Lennox and Addington today?