[BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: A lifelong passion for history - Errata

Mon Oct 31 21:07:56 PDT 2011

Dear Colleagues:

Although flattered by the article, and by Dan Gallacher's kind comments,
the article serves as a reminder to all museum people and genealogists that
newspaper articles, even when written "at the time" and interviewing the
principals involved, may contain errors.

Just for the record, here is the "errata" list:

   - I found the trilobite fossils in front of my home in Ottawa before we
   moved to London, England.
   - Among my hobbies is genealogy, not geology. I am interested in my dead
   ancestors under the stones, not in the composition of the stones.
   - I was awarded the Canadian Forces Decoration (CD) not Declaration. It
   is a long-service award for the military.
   - It is the Seaforth Armoury not Armouries. Singular as there is one
   unit there.
   - "transferring the city’s record to the archives" refers to gaining the
   trust of the Director of Legislative Services (formerly known as the City
   Clerk) and getting him to agree to transfer the bulk of the City Vault's
   contents (dating back to the first City Council meeting minutes of August
   1860)  to the City Archives. This doubled the size of the archival
   collection.
   - My retirement is formally at the end of 2011 but with unused vacation
   time (I was short 50% of my core staff, so I had no time for vacations), my
   last day "on the job" was Oct 27. I shall now be busy for 5-weeks working
   on a project for the Richmond Museum... so much for a break!

Addenda: The ancient church my brother and I found in the Italian
countryside had a marble bas-relief carving of two toga clad figures. When
my father and Dr. Ward Perkins, an archaeologist from the British School of
Archaeology in Rome, were looking at and discussing the mural and trying to
determine what it depicted, I piped up and described a man dressed in
robes, standing in the bow of an old ship with a halo around his head. In
the background was a harbour city with what appeared to be minarets and
which I thought might be Constantinople. They looked at me and asked "You
can see that?" I could, but they being "old" men of about 42 years of age,
could not see the detail that I as an 11-year boy old could.

I spent this morning doing important stuff like photographing butterflies
at the "Butterfly Gardens."

Colin MacGregor Stevens,
Richmond, BC
seaforth72 at gmail.com

On 28 October 2011 15:31, Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <
bcma at lists.vvv.com> wrote:

> **
> A very nice and impressive article on a very nice, accomplished, and
> impressive curator!
>
> Dan Gallacher
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <bcma at lists.vvv.com>
> *To:* bcma at lists.vvv.com
> *Sent:* Friday, October 28, 2011 10:11 AM
> *Subject:* [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: A lifelong passion for history
>
> *A lifelong passion for history*
> *Museum manager steps down after 40-year career*
> Theresa McManus, The Record (New Westminster), Friday, October 28, 2011
>
> Colin Stevens may be retiring at the end of the month, but it’s likely
> he’ll dig up some activities to keep him busy.
>
> After six and a half years as the manager of the New Westminster Museum
> and Archives, Stevens is set to retire. He’s enjoyed a 40-year career in
> the museum field.
>
> “I started out as a student volunteer back in Nova Scotia,” he said. “When
> I was in B.C. going to university, I started a museum with the regiment.”
>
> While serving with the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada in 1972, he noticed
> “all this old stuff” around the Armouries, gathered it together in one
> place and started a museum.
>
> “We found things like machine guns in closets. We found a stuffed cougar
> in the attic,” he said. “I found an oil painting of (Victoria Cross
> recipient) Smokey Smith.”
>
> Stevens served in the Reserves, where he attained the rank of Captain and
> was awarded the Canadian Forces Declaration. He started the Seaforth
> Highlanders of Canada Museum in 1972 and spent 15 years there as the
> voluntary curator and archivist.
>
> For as long as he can remember, Stevens has been interested in
> anthropology and history. It may have been piqued by a discovery he made as
> a child living in London, England.
>
> “I found a lot of trilobites. They are small fossils that look a bit like
> a horseshoe crab,” said Stevens, who was born in Canada. “They were
> literally outside our front door in a ditch because of the shale there.”
>
> When he was about 10, Stevens moved with his family from England to Rome,
> Italy where more discoveries were to come his way.
>
> “At the end of our street they built a road through an old Roman fort,” he
> recalled. “I filled several bushel baskets full of pot-shards.”
>
> While living in Italy, Stevens also discovered an ancient Christian church
> in the Italian countryside. His father had taken the family on a picnic and
> Stevens and his younger brother wandered down a country road where they
> found a church that was believed to have been from the early days of
> Christianity.
>
> “It was camouflaged. It was built into a hillside,” he said. “We found a
> mural along one wall.”
>
> Stevens’ father contacted the officials. While the locals knew about the
> church, it hadn’t been officially recorded.
>
> After returning to Canada when he was 11, Stevens lived in a number of
> provinces with his family, including Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba,
> Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Before graduating from the University of
> British Columbia, he was already working at museums and historic sites.
>
> “I loved history, I love heritage,” he said. “I shifted my focus over to
> museums.”
>
> After graduating from university, Stevens worked at a variety of
> historical sites and museums, before taking a job at Burnaby Village
> Museum. He was the curator at that museum for 18 years before coming to
> work for the City of New Westminster.
>
> “I love museum work, working with collections especially,” he said. “I may
> do some contract work.”
>
> Stevens considers his work in New Westminster to be a career highlight in
> terms of its interesting history and wonderful collections.
>
> He’s proud of accomplishments made by the New Westminster Museum and
> Archives team since 2005, including transferring the city’s record to the
> archives, researching Irving House, brightening up the exhibit gallery,
> removing the clutter, and doing a complete inventory of the museum’s
> collections.
>
> Stevens notes that it had been thought that the museum had about 9,000
> artifacts, but there are actually more than 35,000 items in its collection.
>
> “Because we have done the inventory, we can find things,” he said.
> “We have rediscovered a lot of things, connected the history back to the
> object.”
>
> Stevens leaves the City of New Westminster at a time when planning is
> underway to relocate the museum to the new multiuse civic centre that will
> be built on Columbia Street.
>
> Stevens has no specific retirement plans but looks forward to spending
> more time with his wife, Jeanette, a retired teacher, and to
> “decompressing” for a bit. With hobbies including geology, military history
> and photography, there’s little doubt Stevens will keep himself busy.
>
> “It’s with mixed emotion at this time,” he said about retiring. “The
> reasons are varied. Some family, some work.”
>
> Greg Magirescu, the city’s manager of arts and cultural services, will be
> the interim manager of the New Westminster Museum and Archives.
>
> ---   30   ---
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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-- 
Colin MacGregor Stevens
Richmond, British Columbia,
CANADA

* Web site: http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net
* Military Vehicle Preservation Association # 954 (since 1977)
* Author of "The Ferret Scout Car in Canadian Service" by Service
Publications (Dec. 2009)
 * eBay seaforth_highlander and museum_curator
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