[BCMA] Retirement of Colin MacGregor Stevens as Manager, New Westminster Museum and Archives

Wed Oct 5 13:40:24 PDT 2011

Hi Colin,

Congratulations on a stellar run!! And all best wishes with the much
deserved "retirement." I suspect you will be busier than ever...if that is
possible!!

Cheers,

Nick

Nicholas Tuele Consulting
www.ntuele.com
t. 250 652 1455

On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 2:30 PM, Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <
bcma at lists.vvv.com> wrote:

>  After 40-years in the museum field, I have decided to retire. I am
> retiring effective 2011 Dec. 31, but with vacation time (who has time for
> vacations in this business?), my last working day at NWMA will be Oct. 27.
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> I have lived all across Canada, in London England and Rome Italy. While
> living in Ottawa I found fossils across the street and in Rome I dug up
> ancient Roman pottery fragments just down the street. Paleontology was my
> first interest, then archaeology and eventually, history and museums.****
>
> ** **
>
> I came to New Westminster 6-1/2 years ago as the Museum Manager in May 2005
> after having served for 18 years as the Curator at Burnaby Village Museum.
> My previous museum experience included working as a Tour Guide right and on
> up to Executive Director. Before graduating from UBC, including the Museum
> Studies under Audrey Hawthorne before the present MOA building was built, I
> had already worked at the Dartmouth Heritage Museum (NS), Vancouver City
> Archives, Vancouver Centennial Museum (three institutional name versions
> ago), Vancouver Maritime Museum and St. Roch National Historic Site (BC).
> After graduation, I worked at Battleford National Historic Park (SK),
> Batoche National Historic Site (SK), Cumberland Museum (BC) and the Estevan
> National Exhibition Centre (SK). During that time I also served in the
> Reserves, attained the rank of Captain, and was awarded the Canadian Forces
> Decoration (CD). I started the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada Museum and
> Archives (BC) in 1972 and spent 15-years there on three “tours of duty” as
> the voluntary Curator and Archivist.****
>
>  ****
>
> Career highlights included giving tours to Princess Margaret, the late
> sister of Queen Elizabeth II and to Colonel Neil Armstrong, the first man to
> walk on the Moon. A lowlight was giving a tour to Prime Minister Trudeau’s
> spoiled kids on the St. Roch as they refused to follow my safety
> instructions. My favorite discovery in the collections: In Dartmouth, Nova
> Scotia they have a cannon from the 1917 Halifax Explosion when the SS Mont
> Blanc blew up into a million or so pieces The cannon barrel was thrown about
> a mile inland and landed on the shoreline of Albro Lake as I recall. The
> barrel is bent and it is missing a triangular chunk from the muzzle. In the
> museum storage I found a triangular chunk of metal with rifling on one side.
> It had fallen through the roof of a house in Dartmouth at the time of the
> Halifax Explosion. I asked Bob Frame, the Director, if I could see if it was
> from the cannon. I seem to recall the staff not believing that it could
> possibly fit … but it did. Corporate memory is sometimes short. I saw the
> cannon last year and it has been moved. The piece likely languishes in the
> collection and probably without this story. The story was a bit personal as
> my history teacher there had lived through that explosion. ****
>
> ** **
>
> New Westminster has definitely been a highlight in terms of the interesting
> history (the city is 151 years old – not as old as Rome of course, but
> pretty old for this area) and its wonderful collection consisting of EXACTLY
> 35,035 artifacts including many colonial period artifacts plus lots of
> archival material. There have been many challenges, but it is gratifying to
> see the museum and archives evolving and now on the verge of a major
> expansion into the new Multi-use Civic Facility. ****
>
> ** **
>
> My wife Jeanette is already retired as a teacher and we plan to spend much
> more time together, travel a bit, and we are looking forward to the birth of
> our third grandchild. I have published one book and plan to do a lot more
> writing. I have many hobbies such as genealogy, military history and
> photography to keep me busy. ****
>
> ** **
>
> The NWMA is undergoing a major expansion into a new facility downtown which
> will be substantially completed at the end of 2013. ****
>
> **·         **The 1865 Irving House will remain where it is and will be
> operated as a satellite operation. ****
>
> **·         **New Westminster’s city museum, established in 1950 will move
> to the new facility and expand from about 1,750 sq ft of display space to
> about 6,000 sq ft.****
>
> **·         **New Westminster’s city archives will also move to the new
> facility and roughly double in size. ****
>
> **·         **Two years ago the NWMA was tasked by City Council with the
> maintenance of the Samson V Maritime Museum (a 1937 wooden hulled
> paddlewheel ship) and this month we were formally. tasked with the
> programming on board the ship as well. That collection was accessioned,
> starting with the ship itself. ****
>
> **·         **The New Westminster Police Museum is also preparing to hand
> over its c. 5,000 piece collection (which we accessioned 5 years ago for
> them) to the NWMA for proper care. ****
>
> ** **
>
> I still plan to remain involved with the museum field especially in my
> favourite areas of expertise i.e. collections management and military
> history. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Not that I would reveal any embarrassing secrets gleaned over the past 40
> years … but did you know the UBC Museum of Anthropology was designed to have
> a permanent pool of water on the roof of its main galleries? Arthur “Leaky”
> Erikson felt that the office staff could look out over this pool on the roof
> which would visually merge with the pool of water in front of the museum by
> the First People’s village and that in turn would visually merge with the
> ocean. Don’t you just love architects when they work with museums?****
>
> ** **
>
> Let the jousting begin for my successor, or should I say successors, as one
> sometimes sees a single person replaced by two … but don’t count on it!***
> *
>
> ** **
>
> *Colin MacGregor Stevens*,****
>
> Manager,****
>
> New Westminster Museum and Archives,****
>
> 302 Royal Avenue,****
>
> New Westminster, BC,****
>
> V3L 1H7, Canada****
>
>  ****
>
> Phone Office:    604-527-4639****
>
> Work Cellular :  604-830-6965****
>
> Fax:                    604-527-4641****
>
> E-mail: cstevens at newwestcity.ca ****
>
> Web Site: www.newwestminster.ca ****
>
> Normal work week: Sun-Thurs 9-5, OFF Fri-Sat.****
>
> ** **
>
> The New Westminster Museum and Archives (NWMA) consists of:****
>
>    * City's Museum (est. 1950)****
>
>    * City's Archives****
>
>    * Irving House (built 1865)****
>
>    * Samson V Maritime Museum (paddlewheel ship built 1937; museum since
> 1984) ****
>
> ** **
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>

-- 
Nick Tuele, President
Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame
email: ntuele at shaw.ca
tel: 250 652 1455
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