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It’s time to dust off the tables, ready the microfilm readers and do a thousand bicep curls in preparation of opening the archives and hauling boxes. Or pulling files which requires significantly less strength but nevertheless, we’re opening again soon, and we can’t wait to have you back!

I’m tired of re-opening the archives. This will be thrice since the pandemic started. Let’s hope there’s no fourfold. Let’s hope words like thrice and fourfold stay resigned to history except when an archivist hears those terms on a tv show and can’t help but smile when using them. 

I am beyond excited to be back working at the museum; the artifacts, the exhibits, sufficient desk space, all of these things make me happy. Being back in my work happy place means I can take a deep breath and get back to getting things done, and boy has there been a lot of tasks to accomplish.

It’s been another strange few months, working from home, trying to do what we can here at L&A Archives, without being able to physically work with the archival records. For me, this has meant focusing on updating our online PastPerfect database. I’ve spent the last two months ensuring that the descriptive information for each photograph in the collection is correct and up-to-date, and that each photograph is digitized, accessible online, and locatable in the vault.

I know, I know….love… (cheese alert) who wants to read about that? Honestly, I think we all do (maybe some of us in secret). I think we are all a bit romantic at heart and we all want to hear happy stories that bring smiles to faces and bear witness to that bit of glossed over mooniness that washes over us as we tell the tales of how we met our significant other, or how our parents or grandparents met.  A good love story is the ultimate icebreaker  -“So how did you guys meet?” is often one of the first conversations we have with potential new friends.

Easter is behind us, spring is on the horizon, and we’ve been busy in the archives! That feeling of hope at the end of a very (very, very, very) long winter is perhaps what’s underneath the pep in our step. Whatever it is, we’re gearing up for an eventful April.

Through the month of March, we participated in a campaign to highlight the work and collections of archives across the province. The project was headed by the folks at the Archives of Ontario. Here’s a snapshot of some of our posts in case you missed them.

Please note that the L&A County Museum & Archives is currently closed due to the Provincial Lockdown. All virtual events will proceed as scheduled. We will re-open when permitted to do so. Our apologies for any inconvenience. 

It’s been about a month since the latest provincial lockdown ended for our region, and about a month that Museum & Archives staff have been back in the building. Working from home feels like a distant memory, and thankfully so - the last month has brought about so many new learning opportunities for me here at the Archives!

We have returned to our building and are steadily preparing for the Spring and Summer activities. YES!! Spring… it’s on the way, even in today’s sub-zero weather, I can feel the change in the air and I can smell the shift from Winter to Spring… I know I sound crazy, but I have a good sense for these things. 

With that being said, there has been some renewal happening at the museum too and new exhibits are either here already or are coming this Spring/Summer for you to enjoy!  

I am happy to say that I am writing this blog from my desk actually inside the museum building. Cue celebratory fireworks! Having travelled through the twilight zone of working from home for the first time, I have come out the other side refocused, reenergized, and really really happy to be back.

Here we are again, at home, wondering how we all ended up in the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. If you missed JoAnne’s blog about her experience working from home, make sure to check it out. Below is a picture of my workstation at home. Between JoAnne and I, our home offices are very different.